Back to School. Building Schools for Tomorrow

The exhibition Back to School explores whether schools in Flanders are able to withstand future problems.

The architectural world is facing huge social challenges. Creating schools and learning environments is an important facet of contemporary life. Back to School explores whether schools in Flanders are able to withstand future problems. The exhibition presents a selection of interesting school buildings that have been constructed in recent years. These projects reflect the typological innovations in school building, illustrate the contribution that a school can make to the fabric of a village or city, and point to the role that architecture can play in the social and spatial context.

A strikingly large number of new school buildings have been completed in Flanders in the past ten years. New schools are rising up in both major cities and small rural communities. A key driver of this surge in construction is the large-scale project ‘Schools of Tomorrow’ with which the Flemish government is responding to the outdated and inadequate educational patrimony. The programme, a public-private partnership, involves the design, construction, financing and thirty-year maintenance of 182 school building projects.

As a response to this wave of school building, the Flanders Architecture Institute is organising a symposium to stimulate dialogue about the future of school building in Flanders.