Building from 1981 becomes a contemporary school with space for interaction and collaboration

DP6 is designing the large-scale renovation and redevelopment of the Stedelijk Dalton Lyceum (SDL), the mavo & havo location on Kapteynweg in Dordrecht. Dating from 1981, the building no longer meets the contemporary requirements of the school for mavo and havo and is to undergo extensive refurbishment, with the foundations and structural framework being reused. The sports halls will be replaced by a new building so that the school can achieve the desired elite sport status. In addition, the sports halls can be hired out to local clubs after school hours.

Through this transformation, the SDL mavo & havo location wants to create an open, well-organised and transparent school building that is a spatial expression of what the Dalton educational approach stands for. Furthermore, the school aims to significantly improve its sustainability and has set its sights on achieving ‘ENG’ and ‘Frisse Scholen’ Class B certification.

DP6 designed a plan based on the strong points of the existing building and guided by the motto: preserve what can be preserved. The existing elongated building consists of interconnected volumes. By ‘filling’ the corners with new additions, a more compact building is created. By relocating educational spaces to the edges of the building, it becomes possible to create more air and space within the building. This allows for the creation of a well-organised, open interior that functions efficiently and encourages interaction and collaboration. Thanks to variations in height and the recessed volume on the second floor, the building’s human scale is retained even in the new layout.

The façades will be refurbished to meet modern requirements and will be opened up, giving the building a high degree of transparency. The brick façades from the existing building will be reused and finished with lime mortar, giving the building a calm, warm and contemporary appearance. It is intended to reuse the steel structure and slatted ceilings from the gyms in the new building. Further investigation is needed to determine whether any other components from this section are suitable for reuse. In the rest of the building, reused and bio-based materials will be used as much as possible.

DP6 and its design team are currently working on the preliminary design. According to the schedule, the building is due to be occupied in Q1 2029.