Designed for Disassembly
Amsterdam, NL
Location: Zuidoost, Amsterdam, NL
Year: 2018 - 2019
Site footprint: 2.400 m2
FSI netto: 2.2
Gross Floor Area: 5.500 m2
Program: Public, Educational
Client: Municipality of Amsterdam, De Meeuw
Building Costs: €6.700.000
Sustainability & Fire: Merosch
Installations: Engie
Management: CBB
Building Contractor: De Meeuw
User: Esprit Scholen
Photography: De Meeuw
The Amsterdam International Community School South East (AICS) provides temporary accommodation where Primary Education (PO) and Secondary Education (VO) are combined in one school building. By bringing both age groups together, the design supports continuity in learning while clearly organising different rhythms of use. Circulation flows are integrated around a central auditorium, creating a dynamic, shared core that encourages encounter without compromising orientation. Because young children move constantly, the relationship between the outdoor spaces and the main entrance is intentionally strengthened, making arrival, play and informal learning part of everyday life. The building is conceived as an active learning landscape: clear, legible and social, with a strong spatial identity that supports both structure and discovery.
A key spatial sequence connects outdoor space, entrance, auditorium and learning areas. It operates as a gradual transition from large, busy and interactive zones to smaller, quieter and more focused environments. Managing these thresholds acoustic, visual and behavioural is central to the architectural concept. PO is given its own recognisable heart: a playroom that opens into a double-height space with a tribune connecting to the first floor. This child-scaled interior landscape strengthens interaction between PO spaces across both levels, while clearly distinguishing between play, gathering and concentrated learning. The building is further defined by its modular, demountable and movable construction. As educational needs, enrolment and programmes change over time, this adaptable system allows the school to expand, contract or relocate with minimal waste an architecture that is temporary in placement, yet permanent in quality.
