Building progress Farelcollege Ridderkerk

The opening of Farelcollege on November 20 was a great succes. The Rotterdam special of Dutch daily AD reported about it. [[file:ad141121]]

Today, the extension of the Farelcollege in Ridderkerk designed by KCAP Architects&Planners will officially be opened. The new building for general secondary education has been in use since last September. It offers on three floors 1,700 m2 for 12 classrooms and a flexible classroom on the ground floor and accommodates 400 students. It also forms the new entrance of the Farelcollege.Farelcollege clusters various education levels - pre-vocational, general and higher secondary and pre-university education. The branches are spread over several locations in Ridderkerk. With the expansion of the location at Kastanjelaan a step is set to house all 1800 students at one location. The architectural concept also allows for further expansion in the future.The location already contained two buildings: the main building with gym built in 1989 and another expansion from 1997. The new building floats with its top storey over the existing gym. ‘With this ‘bridge’ the new building encloses the outdoor space and creates a seven meter high gate as fantastic new entrance for the entire school,’ states Irma van Oort, architect and partner of KCAP. ‘The central courtyard to which all buildings are oriented, creates the new heart of the Farelcollege.’This connection enables to create coherence between the buildings. At the same time all volumes keep their own character within the ensemble. ‘The concept pursues the campus principle and gives physical expression to the educational vision of Farelcollege which defines core values such as small-scale and identity," says Irma van Oort.Within the ensemble the facade of the expansion has its own and warm appearance with the subtly nuanced brick pattern and bronze-coloured aluminum windows. ‘Colour and texture of the facade support the connection to the existing buildings, but also provide clear distinction of the different school departments,’ says Irma van Oort. In the interior green as corporate ...

After start construction in October 2013 the exterior of the extension to the school building in Ridderkerk is almost finished. The building will be realised in July 2014 and will be taken into use with the start of the new school year after the summer break.

On October 25, the construction of Farelcollege Ridderkerk has officially started. Alderman Den Ouden has performed the first stone ceremony. The extension of the school complex comprises of 1.700 m2 and adds the Lower General Secondary Education (MAVO) building to the ones of the other 2 educational branches of Farelcollege (Lyceum and Business School). Realisation of the building is planned in the summer of 2014.