Wevelgem - Primary school Gulleboom

With the renovation of the Poststraat campus of the primary school De Gulleboom, the non-profit organization Katholiek Basisonderwijs Guldenberg wants to give a face to its operations and to articulate its vision for a vibrant school that can also be put to wide-ranging use after school hours and is anchored in the neighbourhood. The client has earmarked €3 million (excl. VAT and fees) for this assignment.

The non-profit organization Katholiek Basisonderwijs Guldenberg provides education to more than 2,000 pupils in Wevelgem, Moorsele and Gullegem. In Gullegem, the primary school De Gulleboom occupies three sites in the city centre. The name of the school refers to the title of the book The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein, a beautiful parable for children and adults about giving, receiving, trusting and growing. De Gulleboom aims to be a welcoming, generous, warm and loving school. On this basis, it also wants to commit to the wide-ranging use of the school. The Poststraat campus is located in the heart of Gullegem. This is currently where 345 pupils from 3rd to 6th grade are taught, where the Kortrijk Conservatoire offers lessons in music and word, and where non-profit association Katjeduk organizes playground activities during the holiday periods.

On campus, adaptation, expansion and modernization of the buildings are urgently needed to meet the needs of the growing pupil population and to create a high-quality learning environment in line with current educational needs. In addition, the board wants to focus even more on a socially wide-ranging use of the school site, with educational, sociocultural and leisure initiatives reinforcing each other. A key challenge in this project is therefore to conceive the efficient organization and smart layout of the site to facilitate maximum shared use. The designers are to conceive the buildings and classrooms in a polyvalent way so that they can be used by several parties. Given the wide-ranging use, the sustainability of the chosen materials and techniques is also a point of attention.

The campus is easily accessible to the wide range of users. The board wishes to have a clear and prominent presence as a school in the heart of the municipality, making the inviting and vibrant character of the campus visible in the immediate surroundings.

The assignment consists concretely in drawing up a development vision for the campus and realizing a first phase. Depending on the results and findings from the development vision, this first phase will consist in the renovation of an existing building or in demolition and a new construction. Limited layout of the surroundings is also planned. The project will be carried out with grants from the Agency for School Infrastructure (AGION). Consequently, designers should also take into account the eligible construction costs.