Prof. Zeemanschool

English translation

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Description

Introduction

H-SHAPED SCHOOL BUILDING, Prof. Zeemanschool, built in 1952-1953 after a design by J.A. Leupen, head of the Buildings Department of the Public Works Service of Amsterdam, situated in the heart of the Jeruzalem district in the Frankendael neighbourhood. The 1960 extension doubles the original H-shape. This building component is protected as it forms a structural unit with the part from 1952-1953 and is a continuation of the original design.

The school is an essential component in the urban design of Jeruzalem. The idea of providing sufficient space with a playground at a school dates from the 1930s. This modern (international) concept, which already existed before the Second World War, was later further modernised in accordance with the latest educational insights. In the educational innovation that had to be combined with the rapid construction of many schools, the municipality of Amsterdam played a pioneering role. On the initiative of the Alderman for Education A. de Roos, a study committee was established after the war to prepare the construction of new schools for infant education and primary education. J. Leupen, head of the Buildings Department of the Public Works Service, and P. Bakkum, Municipal Inspector of Education, played an important role in this committee, the Urban Development Department was represented by Mrs J.H. Mulder. At that time, the inspiration to tackle the modernisation of the school building systematically came mainly from abroad. In particular in England, the United States and Switzerland, significant progress had already been made. Influenced by the insight that fresh air and sunshine are healthy for children, the open-air school had already become a design task for architects decades earlier, which resulted in Amsterdam in the famous open-air school by Jan Duiker. In addition to a healthy environment for pupils, account had to be taken of traffic safety, walking distances, light and space. The school was designed and built as a semi-permanent building, necessarily so because the Ministry did not give permission for the construction of permanent school buildings until 1952.

Description

The SCHOOL BUILDING is designed in an H-shape as an experimental form to obtain daylight in the classroom from two sides. For this reason, the school has no corridor structure. The adaptation of the light admission was also necessary to allow flexible arrangements of classroom furniture. The school consists, including the later extension, of three rectangular, single-storey building volumes arranged parallel to each other and connected by two short corridors. The rectangular building volumes form the long legs of the letter H and one leg contains classrooms and the other contains a gymnasium, auditorium etc. The throughway took place directly from class to class, lacking corridors. To limit the inconvenience of this throughway, each class was provided with a cloakroom and toilet unit. The south-west leg was slightly longer because staff accommodation was provided there. The 1960 addition has a rectangular upright television window projecting at an angle. The facades are executed in timber-frame construction, now mostly infilled with glass panels. Glazed external doors open onto the inner courtyards. The woodwork was - as were parts of the interior - executed in fresh colours. The end facades executed in yellowish rubble stone form a contrast with the lightly detailed, transparent long facades. The volumes are covered with a shallow pitched gabled roof. Today the school functions both as a primary school and childcare facility for which purposes the interior has been adapted.

Valuation

The SCHOOL BUILDING is of national importance as the first, relatively intact and rare example of a semi-permanent H-shaped school building. This new school plan marks a key moment in the building history of Dutch schools, because it was designed according to the most modern educational insights: pupils in the corridor-free building can optimally benefit from light, air and space, which creates a healthy learning environment. It is typologically important because the (semi-permanent) H-shape served as a model for schools elsewhere in the Netherlands. The addition, which copies the original H-shape, has value as confirmation and continuation of the unique, earlier H-concept and is thus both physically and substantively inseparably linked. Moreover, the school forms an essential (urban) design component of the Post-War Reconstruction district Jeruzalem and the neighbourhood and garden city concept that underlies the district, and thus has ensemble value. As part of the garden city and as a model for schools in the Netherlands, this school also has high cultural historical value. It furthermore demonstrates the integral, idealistic approach and cooperation between (urban) designers and education specialists of the municipality of Amsterdam.