Gymnasiumhouse

In an old school building on the “Oude Gracht” in Utrecht was once on the ground floor a gym, dressing rooms and a staffroom. The rest of the school building was developed by a developer, but the gym, dressing room and staff room were sold as a separate item. Because of the newly developed upper apartments and their new roof terraces skylights were closed in the gym ceiling. To get more daylight back into the house a patio was added to increase the living quality. Due to the relatively narrow "plot" it was also a challenge to get daylight into the bedrooms. Again, the patio helped. At the spot of the old dressing rooms, two children's bedrooms are realized with their own bathroom. One bedroom gets daylight from the backyard and the other from the patio. Due to the bad foundation, the entire rear section which was used as dressing rooms were demolished and rebuilt as bedrooms and bathroom. The old round steel framing is reused in the patio and the old small round windows are reused between the hall and the children bedrooms. The kitchen and living area are located in what was once the gym so that they have a nice high ceiling. In the former staff room on front side of the house there is a second living area mostly for the parents. It also serves as a workplace for the parents.