Rijn IJssel Vakschool Wageningen

SBH architects was in charge of the architecture of the building. Ex Interiors produced the interior design. Odette Ex: “We were asked to match the interior with the exterior. More and more vocational colleges are realising a tangible connection between classroom subjects and practice. This is very much the case for the so-called PLAZA on the ground floor of Vakschool Wageningen. This meeting place is where students from the various disciplines – from hotel reception to restaurant or bakery – meet up and learn about each other's profession, work on projects together and get a taste for the quality that will soon be demanded by the work field. We really wanted to realise this type of interdisciplinary learning at the college. The students are taken out of their fields of expertise, and we connect them with the work field and visitors from the surrounding area. As a result, real-life situations can be practised in a genuine way. What I like about this environment is that you can just feel that crafts are being learnt here, and that students share their know-how with one another. From baking bread to making chocolates or ice cream and from serving dinner to welcoming people.”

Each discipline practised at the PLAZA has its own distinctive colour. From terra-brown for the bakery and green for everything related to travel, to blue for meeting and a soft pink for the auditorium. These colour schemes have created very different but recognisable atmospheres within one and the same PLAZA. The colours are fairly bright; the intense colours create a beautiful contrast with the grey base colour. In addition to the PLAZA concept, Ex Interiors was also responsible for the look and feel of the rest of the building.

Odette: “Together with Gispen we carefully incorporated the circular concept into the furniture. We wanted to show that we value what was already there and this is clearly visible at the PLAZA. We went through every single chair and table.” Robbert de Jonge, project supervisor and Circular Economy Advisor at Gispen: “Together with Ex Interiors, we conducted a Quality Scan of all the separate furniture pieces that had been in use at the vocational college. This includes furniture from classrooms, meeting points, conference rooms, presentation areas, reception desks and the restaurant. Our client had already made a detailed inventory. We checked the condition of every single item and asked ourselves: What options are there in terms of sustainable solutions? What is eligible for reuse? A large portion of the furniture was eligible for reconditioning, and many of the classrooms have mostly been kept as is. The old design looked cramped and cluttered; the new setting is more uniform with products of matching colours and shapes. This has given the environment a sense of tranquillity and unity.”

It was Gispen’s task to refurbish all the reusable furniture pieces; a process carried out at its own factory in Culemborg. The frames and undercarriages of the tables were repainted and the tabletops were either renewed or sanded down and repainted in a new colour. The office chairs were given a thorough clean and have been fully reupholstered. The burgundy stools were repainted in anthracite grey to give them a more contemporary look. Robbert: “Another great example is the student chairs with wooden seat, wooden backrest and steel frame. These were present in large numbers. Functionally these sturdy chairs were still fine, but aesthetically they no longer fit the bill. Odette came up with the idea of blasting the wooden parts instead of sanding them. This was new to us, but it turned out to be possible at our own factory. The blasting process allowed us to safely remove all the old lacquer from the wooden parts and made it easier to repaint and stain the wood evenly. The frames of the chairs that were destined for the PLAZA were repainted in black. A product that has lasted for a decade or two can now last another twenty years!”

Gispen also supplied new furniture, all sustainably designed and manufactured. These include Gispen TM workstations with accompanying Gispen Zinn task chairs.

Photography: Alexander van Berge Photograpy

Photo Odette Ex: Janita Sassen