Situation

The Stede­lijk Lyceum Tops­port (Tops­port­school) in Antwerp is an indi­vi­dual elite sports academy for young athletes, which also allows many other forms of use for ordi­nary people. By Compa­gnie O Archi­tects.

Stede­lijk Lyceum Tops­port does not reveal its purpose, it merely exists on this awkward site, an aban­doned mili­tary fort­ress, over­grown with gree­nery. A sloped concrete base emerges from the soil, self-contained and obvious, slightly supe­rior to its surroun­dings, reve­aling hardly anything at all.

On top of this solid soil hovers a sharp-edged mirror glass surface, reflec­ting and deflec­ting the scenery into scat­tered views. It seems like the base and the glass­house are in a para­do­xical confron­ta­tion at first. We rather consider it as an oxymoron, it brings toge­ther two seemingly incom­pa­tible languages within one buil­ding, crea­ting a tension we consider inte­res­ting.

Level O

Level 1

Intermediate level

Situated on the inter­me­diate floor, the power trai­ning space and the cantina are placed next to each other. These spaces form the communal living center of the school commu­nity. In contrast to the rather intro­verted trai­ning halls, this level has a gene­rous view to the surroun­dings. Here is the more private entrance of the school located.

Top floor

The top floor is reserved for all school-acti­vi­ties, between the trusses. This level rises lite­rally above the sport­fields, the square and the further surroun­dings. There is no more mass, just a plat­form, a turn­table or panop­ticon of know­ledge and lear­ning. A school with a round way and a patio for central decom­pres­sion. The school base is deter­mined by the struc­ture (trusses which live up to the big span of the main hall) and ratio. In reality this place refers more to a land­scape office or a busi­ness lobby than a pastel colored child friendly neigh­bor­hood school.

Technical

The Tops­port­school is a passive buil­ding, which means that the space heating energy demand is limited to 14,17 kWh per square meter per year. The total energy used doesn’t exceed 60 kWh per square meter of treated floor area per year. In terms of airtight­ness, there’s a maximum of 0.6 air changes per hour at 50 Pascals pres­sure. Thermal comfort is met for all living areas during winter as well in summer, with not more than 10% of the hours in a given year over 25°C. The whole buil­ding is planned, opti­mized and veri­fied with the Passive House Plan­ning Package (PHPP). All of the above criteria are achieved through intel­li­gent design and imple­men­ta­tion of the 5 Passive House prin­ci­ples: thermal bridge free design, supe­rior windows, venti­la­tion with heat reco­very, quality insu­la­tion and airtight cons­truc­tion.