NWLND Rogiers Vandeputte, Belgium

In a workshop for a secondary school in Ostend, the Belgian duo use simple strategic moves to solve complex spatial problems

NWLND Rogiers Vandeputte was shortlisted for the AR Emerging awards 2024. Read about the full shortlist

When approaching a new project, NWLND Rogiers Vandeputte founders Bert Rogiers and Pieter Vandeputte are likely to pass over cups of pens and teal iMacs stationed at their desks to reach instead for Occam’s razor – the principle that the simplest available solution is also usually the best.

Often in NWLND’s projects (pronounced ‘New Land’) , this means deriving one key idea to unlock a series of knock‑on benefits. For the addition of a nursery building to an existing primary school in Ghent, currently in early planning stages, the architects began by challenging an inherited masterplan that proposed two sets of administrative rooms – one for the nursery and another for the school. By combining the duplicated functions, NWLND liberated space in the nursery to become additional classrooms for the school. This is more than just an act of spatial efficiency; the extra capacity will mean that no student is displaced to a substandard temporary classroom during the works. Architecture is ‘not only about a nice window opening or a sculptural element,’ says Rogiers. ‘It is about finding a system.’

Such a system was formulated in the studio’s designs for Atelier PPW, a workshop for a secondary school in Ostend. At either end of the building, outdoor staircases provide circulation to upper storeys and to neighbouring buildings, connected by a deck. This separation of auxiliary and primary functions aims at longevity through flexibility; the precast concrete columns are strong enough to support an additional floor if later required, while the circulation structures already extend to the current roof level. Even inside, the floor layouts can adapt to changing spatial demands. An off‑the‑shelf solution of internal walls can be moved by students and teachers, and external doors open onto the deck at regular intervals to support all manner of changing layouts inside.

‘The vivid green recalls buildings by James Stirling, but NWLND are too unpretentious to accept the reference’

In NWLND’s early portfolio of private houses, shop fit‑outs and office buildings, such rigorous spatial solutions are hidden in plain sight – affecting how their buildings are lived and worked in, but rarely making a show of it. For a building such as Atelier PPW, however, in which students will learn how to construct buildings, the practice has gained a more expressive aesthetic licence. While Atelier PPW’s concrete frame is pigmented in the brick‑red of its surrounding context, the circulation structures are painted in a vivid green, recalling buildings by

James Stirling

and recapitulated by contemporary architects such as

David Kohn

, but NWLND are far too unpretentious to accept the reference. Instead, the architects insist that the colours serve as a diagram of two contrasting construction methods working together to fulfil maximum spatial value. For the students inside, it is surely a helpful example.

Staircases enclosed in green armatures are positioned at each end of the building, while the concrete structure is pigmented in a brick-red colour, reflecting its neighbours. (Johnny Umans)

The architects typically use timber in private projects, but receive pushback from contractors and clients when proposing low-carbon materials in larger projects. (Johnny Umans)

A covered ground floor area operates as an outdoor workshop, including a sandpit for practising foundation construction. (Johnny Umans)