Primary school Molenwiek Dalton in Haarlem
The corridor BEFORE and AFTER transformation
Transformation
Molenwiek
Molenwiek Dalton is a public primary school in the Haarlem district of Schalkwijk. The building was designed in 1977 by the then city architect Wiek Röling. It is a spacious and light building beautifully located bordering on a neighbourhood park.
The design research by Mevrouw Meijer from 2014-2015 showed how the building could be made more sustainable, expanded and better oriented towards the park. From the range of three convincing and different options, the school chose Korth Tielens for the follow-up assignment. The school was completed in 2019.
Client: Municipality of Haarlem and Stichting Spaarnesant
Korth Tielens
Architects
The school has been expanded with a new building section with an extra floor, overlooking the park. The five-sided shape was inspired by a sketch by the original architect Röling, who at the time drew a (never built) semi-circular amphitheatre here. The existing part of the school has been renovated to a high standard, so that old and new have the same quality and atmosphere.
Students and teachers are very happy with the result. Their school has remained familiar and improved at the same time. Haarlem awarded the school the municipal architecture prize, the Lieven De Key Penning, in 2020.
Photography: Peter Tijhuis