Frits Philips Lyceum
9 augustus 2019
Project: Frits Philips Lyceum, Eindhoven | The Netherlands
Architects: LIAG architecten en bouwadviseurs, The Hague | The Netherlands
Fabricator & Installer: WVH Gevelprojecten B.V., Oirschot | The Netherlands
Façade System: Tray Panels SZ20
Year of Construction: 2017
Product: ALUCOBOND® PLUS solid White, Green, Yellow, Blue
Photos: WVH
Education in Motion
The goal of providing individual pupil support and development plays a major role in the new building at Frits Philips Lyceum in Eindhoven. The newly established school gives its 1,650 pupils the freedom to develop their strengths in sport, culture, economics and the sciences, to learn from each other and to discover their individual aptitudes. So, investigative individual or group study replaces teacher-centred lessons, and teachers become mentors. School routine continually shifts between interactive and focused work, between communal and private study, between motion and stillness. The building design reflects this culture in its loosely structured floor plan and large, multi-purpose foyers. The atrium is the central link and meeting place for everyone. The glass-fronted learning spaces and galleries leading off from it do not only allow visual contact and interaction but also provide a quiet haven and a place to concentrate. In order to divide the 11,000 m² of space into manageable units, the grammar and secondary schools are on different floors and access is via two different entrances. However, both storeys are linked by the atrium which offers new perspectives, alternative learning areas and connecting pathways. The principle of education centres on how teachers and pupils encounter each other, so it is logical that the façade makes reference to motion and perspective. The cladding on the folded, concertina-like façade is white in one direction and yellow, green and blue ALUCOBOND® panels in the other. The windows are slightly recessed. Passers-by see either a sequence of colours or a white façade, and depending on their viewpoint, more or less of the school interior is visible. The building’s exterior is like education itself: an individual process of motion and encounters.