Pieters structural designer for International School Utrecht

The school building on the Uithof in Utrecht, designed by SVP and CROSS, offers space for no fewer than 40 different cultures. To strengthen the community feeling, the building has one main entrance, but the younger and older students are cleverly separated just before entering.

A school for bringing cultures together
A school building is an important place for children in their personal development. After all, they spend a lot of their time there for years. It is the place where children develop, learn them every day and become smarter, where friendships are made for life and where they might fall in love for the first time. International School Utrecht is no exception, it is a school that provides appropriate education for both children of internationals who are in the Netherlands for a short time, and for Dutch children who return to the Netherlands or leave abroad with their parents. What makes the school special is that so many different cultures are represented. Space for individuality and safety are important, but also the search for a connection between all those different cultures. The proposal is a sustainable building. The highest ambitions have been set in the field of Fresh Schools, GPR, energy neutrality, BREEAM and circularity. This school is ready for the future of educational institutions where children are encouraged to become world citizens with care for the globe.

A place for young and old children
For the youngest children the entrance is directly on the ground floor. The so-called "early years" and "elementary grades" reach their own place in the building from the central space. The students of the "Secondary Program" enter the building on the first floor, through the central heart of the building where the auditorium and the studios and the library are also located. Along a natural wall you enter the central square. The route is a real discovery through the building.

The building is laid out in a logical way: the youngest children downstairs and the older ones upstairs. There is room for meeting in the heart of the building: sport, music or drama are the unifying factors. The proposal is therefore organized around the auditorium where the music studios are visible immediately upon arrival. You don't necessarily have to speak each other's languages, but here you find each other in common interests where you get to know each other in a playful way.

BREEAM
What makes the school special is that so many different cultures are represented. Space for individuality and safety are important, but also the search for a connection between all those different cultures. The proposal is a sustainable building. The highest ambitions have been set in the field of Fresh Schools, GPR, energy neutrality, BREEAM and circularity.