Scheepvaart en Transport College, Rotterdam

Pooling together several institutes from the field of maritime transport, this training centre is an ambitious and innovative building by Neutelings Riedijk Architects ( Rotterdam ), the architects who won the competition for the project back in 2002. The forms, colours and materials are inspired by the world of shipping and navigation. The facade in glass and aluminium panels alternates between blue and silvery grey, tying in with the port environment.

The building is adapted both for secondary school students and for employees taking advanced courses. This combination of levels of education and experience is conveyed in the vertical organisation of the school. Instead of a conventional, horizontally designed building, the architects went for a 70 metre high building, whose 14 floors simulate the atmosphere of a vertical town. All the classrooms are situated in the tower and the 300 seat conference room takes up the slanting space on the last floor, offering a panoramic view over the docks. The building's base for its part houses the workshops.

Escalators have been used as the means of circulation, from the ground floor to the top floor, the idea being to optimise the movements of the students between lessons. But it is also triggered by the desire of the school authorities to create greater synergy within the institute.

Also entrusted with the interior design, the architects have opted for a dynamic image, a concrete vision of the international shipping world. Willem Jan Neutelings and Michiel Riedijk have thus opted for a radical departure from the usual educational establishment. The new building meets its various functions while offering the city a powerful symbol and an example of an excellent public project, built without going over budget.