Meeting in Educational Architecture

Abstract

This history thesis contains the research question; What are the design principles of the architects H.A. Maaskant, H. Dam and B.F.A. Dirkse, and Van Klingeren for secondary education buildings on the aspect of meeting in the Netherlands during the 1970s? This question is answered via a literature review together with analyses of archival material. After the restructuring of the educational system in 1968, the existing inventory of educational architecture in the Netherlands experienced pressure for change and sparked a wave of new educational architecture in the 1970s. The first case study is from H.A. Maaskant, the Technikon complex in Rotterdam completed in 1970. The second case study is ‘t Karregat from Van Klingeren in Eindhoven, 1973. The final case study contains the Hendrik van der Vlist ‘school cluster’ by architect ir. Henk Dam and ir. B.F.A. Dirkse in Utrecht, built in 1973. The collective answer to the research questions is; ‘The design principles of the architects H.A. Maaskant, H. Dam and B.F.A. Dirkse, and Van Klingeren for secondary education buildings on the aspect of meeting during the 1970s can be described as; connecting a multitude of separate entities together to enhance the collective, removing physical barriers to enhance interaction within a community, and creating a central space connecting different levels of education’