Projects Sustainable Energy Social Improvement
3 min.
The devastation was indescribable when now infamous hurricane Irma reached the island of Sint Maarten in September of 2017. Nothing in its path was spared as it left private and public buildings and structures in rubble in its wake. Once the storm had died down, there was not much more to do for the locals then to keep their heads up and start rebuilding their wonderful home. As the saying goes though, destruction also brings creation and the newly built school in Philipsburg is a prime example of that. A sustainable example, even.
Low-impact, high-quality construction in Sint Maarten
The new school building in Philipsburg, located in the middle of Walter A. Nisbeth Road, Voges Street, and W.G. Buncamper Road in the south of Sint Maarten, is one of the major reconstruction efforts on the island of the past few years. In collaboration with DAM Caribbean, a local architecture firm, the Stichting Voortgezet Onderwijs van de Bovenwindse Eilanden (Foundation for Higher Education on the Windward Islands or SVOBE) has made the most of the situation by opting for a sustainable project approach. At the same time, the new building needed to be fully hurricane-proof in order to prevent a repetition of disastrous events in the future.
For the foundation of the building, they opted for a concrete and steel construct, thanks to its short construction times and consequent shorter period of traffic disruptions as a result of the works. Furthermore, this type of concrete is highly resistant to extreme weather conditions, while requiring little to no maintenance. The project's focus on sustainability, both in terms of the construction and the later use of the building, does not end there, though.
Sustainable recovery
Picking durable construction materials for the new Philipsburg school already shows that the SVOBE and DAM Caribbean were taking the area's natural and social environment into account when coming up with the plans. The real highlight of sustainability though, is the structure's green central courtyard. This forms the heart of the school with an abundance of green, all of which is watered with so-called "grey water" generated by the school's own filtering system for the re-use of water. This water can also be used to flush the toilets and for students to wash their hands, for example.
On top of that, literally and figuratively, the building features a rooftop full of solar panels for sustainable electricity generation, while every single of the outer wall windows consist of heat resilient and self-cleaning glass, which again reduces the building's daily impact on the environment. That's also why the interiors will be fitted with energy-efficient climate control systems. "The goal is to make this an ecologically neutral school", stated DAM Caribbean at the time.
Welcome to Philipsburg
The new school is not only a valuable social and architectural addition to the island, but also a symbol of the local people's strength and resilience. It's located very near to the round-about that provides access to the capital city, so every visitor will see the unique and colorful concrete creation. Like that, the building is also an impressive testament to Sint Maarten's reaction after hurricane Irma. If you ever come by Philipsburg, there's no way you'll miss it.
The basis for this article (by Robert Muis) was originally published on www.architectenweb.nl in 2020.
