start

This is where the story of the Lely building begins. After the second world war, the wederopbouw, a period of recovery, building and expansion commenced in the Netherlands. In Amsterdam West the plans of the Algemeen Uitbreidingsplan (General Extension Plan), designed by architect and urban planner Cornelis Van Eesteren in 1934 and approved by the municipality in 1935, were finally executed.

The Westelijke Tuinsteden (Western garden cities) were built in the western part of Amsterdam from the early 1950s on. Farmers and gardeners had to make way for the extensive building project that would bring relief to the housing crisis that had emerged already before the war. These garden cities had a very different design compared to the closed city centre housing blocks, the ‘19th century ring’, or the ‘1920-1940 belt’ of Amsterdam. Instead, light, air and space were the guiding design principles as conceived by Van Eesteren in 1935.

Immediately after the war, the Vereniging voor Christelijk Middelbaar en Voorbereidend Hoger Onderwijs (the Society for Christian Middle and Preparatory Higher Education) started to investigate possibilities for building new schools. Their school at de Moreelsestraat in Zuid was too small and their H.B.S.-A (Higher Civic School) had been demolished during the war. In 1949, the first plans were made to start a new school in Amsterdam West. In the meantime, in September 1953 the first classes commenced in the Vasco Da Gamastraat in de Baarsjes. During the post war period, many new schools were being build, but the subsidies from the government were limited. The school grew, and in 1956 the school was officially founded and named ‘Christelijk Lyceum West’ as it was relocated to Overtoomseveld, which at the time was “nothing else than a never-ending expanse of sand with some small emergency roads”. In the Jan Tooropstraat it had several sober emergency barracks. It was cold, unsafe and there was no running water. Nevertheless, the school grew and the barracks were expanded seven times.

In 1959, in collaboration with stichting Samenwerkende Christelijke Scholen te Amsterdam-West and the ministry of Education, Culture and Science, and the Government Building Agency (Adviesbureau voor de Rijksgebouwendienst), J.B. Ingwersen was chosen as the architect to design the new school building. It was thanks to the good connections with Christian school boards of Ingwersen’s former partner Commer ‘Corbu’ de Geus (1889-1957) that Ingwersen received this commission, and many would follow. Siemerink’s bouw- en betonbedrijf te Wierden were commissioned as the builders of the new building.

In October 1963 the first pile of the new school was driven, which attracted a lot of media attention. 700 students marched to see it. The students had banners which read: “Ram hem erin, dan hebben wij onze zin” (“Smash it into the ground, then we have what we want!”).

In 1963 various newspapers announce the construction of the new school. All of the articles use the same image drawn by Ingwersen and give attention to the specifics of the layout of the classrooms. 40 classrooms will house 800 students; there will be nine ‘praktijklokalen’ (practice rooms/laboratories): three for chemistry and physics, twee for geography, two for drawing, two for biology and one for handicrafts. On the roof there will be a classroom for ‘cosmography’. It is mentioned that the design relates to the school’s pedagogical philosophy, which is founded on the Dalton Plan as developed by the American educator Helen Parkhurst, but little mention of this pedagogical philosophy is mentioned elsewhere. The newspaper mentions how the broad hallways will offer students space to retreat and focus on their own studies. The typology of the ‘gangschool’ (corridor school) is exemplary for the post war school buildings.

The school was supposed to be ready in 1966, but many issues occurred with construction company Siemerink. In 1964 one of the construction workers dies. In 1965 newspapers report of strikes among construction workers due to a reduction of working hours. But in 1967 a real crisis hits Siemerink and a conflict between the company and the school board arises as they are unable to pay their workers and as a consequence have fired their fifty workers (painters, carpenters, bricklayers). Finally, the school board decides to lay off the company. The eastern part of the building is ready, and taken into use right away, but the western part, the gym and the auditorium are not.

1968 is the year that a massive reform of secondary education is implemented. The reorganisation is so huge, that it’s referred to as the ‘Mammoetwet’ (Mammoth law). The different options for education (Huishoudschool, MMS, MULO, HTS, HBS, Gymnasium) are reorganised in such a way that it becomes easier to transfer from one level to another (MAVO, HAVO, VWO). The new school building is able to house all levels in one building. One newspaper article presents the school as a modern and “up to date” example worthy of a “Mammoth school community”.

21 September 1971, Trouw

Martin Albers, Beeldbank Stadsarchief, 1997.

Informatieavond 1 December 2016
https://assets.heemschut.nl/docs/4af67cde-6d29-435c-86cd-06785d426b2c.pdf

11 JULI 2012 • WESTERPOST 112 • PAGINA 5
Het was niet te missen naast Station
Lelylaan: een grote rode schep en
een nog grotere witte tent. Afgelopen
weekend vond hier de jaarlijkse
Amsterdamse Zelfbouwmarkt plaats.
Veel kaveljagers trokken naar Nieuw-
West om zich te laten onderdompe-
len in het aanbod van zelfbouw.
De wildkampeerders die al dagen in
de rij voor hun favoriete kavel lagen
werden met de dag beroemder. Veel
journalisten en cameraploegen, waar-
onder Hart van Nederland van Sbs6,
waren al langsgeweest. Vrijdag moe-
ten de kaveljagers iets opschuiven om
plaats te maken voor de megatent van
de Zelfbouwmarkt. Uiteindelijk kon-
den zij zaterdagochtend 06:30 uur hun
tentjes definitief inpakken om écht in
de rij te gaan staan. Klokslag 11:00
uur opende de markt haar deuren. De
jacht kon beginnen.
En een jacht was het. De meest favo-
riete kavels van Amsterdam lagen
in Osdorp en Buitenveldert. De zes
kavels (het Terpje) aan de oude
Osdorperweg waren de eerste dag
al vergeven. Kaveljagers die te laat
kwamen konden op de reservelijst.
Want als de financiering van de eerste
optienemer niet binnen drie maanden
rond is, komt de kavel alsnog vrij. Van
de grote kavels aan de Lutkemeerweg
in Osdorp zijn vier kavels uitgegeven,
met één op de reservelijst. Er zijn hier
nog zes kavels vrij. De kavels aan
de Troelstralaan in de Van Tijenbuurt
waren pas kort geleden in het aanbod
gezet en daardoor nog niet zo bekend.
Eén kavel is nu uitgegeven. Vanwege
de gunstige grondprijs van de ove-
rige 15 kavels raakten veel bezoekers
geïnteresseerd. De breedte van de
kavels in de Van Tijenbuurt kunnen
ook naar wens worden aangepast. De
verwachting is dat er binnenkort meer
kavels worden uitgegeven.
Stadsdeelwethouder Paulus de Wilt
(stedelijke vernieuwing) heeft zater-
dag en zondag veel kaveljagers
gesproken: “De Amsterdamse zelf-
bouwmarkt heeft Nieuw-West goed
gedaan. Veel geïnteresseerden kwa-
men uit de buurt. Kleine ontwikkelaars
en architecten op de markt zagen met
eigen ogen dat de vraag in Nieuw-
West groot is, net als de mogelijk-
heden. Vraag en aanbod kwamen zo
mooi bij elkaar.” Opvallend was dat
dit jaar het kavelaanbod veel breder
was dan vorig jaar. Er zijn kavels in
alle soorten, maten en prijzen. Ook
kluswoningen horen erbij. Als het aan
wethouder Maarten van Poelgeest
ligt, wordt het aanbod van zelfbouw
alleen maar groter. Tijdens de opening
bevestigde hij dit nogmaals. Paulus
de Wilt: “De groeikans voor zelfbouw
in Amsterdam ligt buiten de ring. Ik
spreek veel bewoners die hun vleu-
gels willen uitslaan. Met zelfbouw heb
je zeggenschap over je eigen woning.
En dat hoeft helemaal niet veel te
kosten. Ik ben blij dat steeds meer
mensen dat zien!

Atta de Tolk, training 2 met het Calvijn met junior college colorrunteam.

21 March 1975, Trouw

Cantate over Garcia Lorca, 5 October 1981, Trouw

scriptie Lely als casestudy
Nina de Vos
"Integeren in een kunstenaarsbroedplaats?"

"De laatste jaren zijn de ontwikkeling en het beheer van broedplaatsen in handen van een aantal verschillende stichtingen, zoals Urban Resort (de grootste, met een sterke positie), die geen directe subsidierelaties met de gemeente hebben. Af en toe lukt het een kunstenaarscollectief om met Bureau Broedplaatsen een broedplaats te
ontwikkelen via een tender. Toen verwerving van een pand niet via een tender ging, kwam het vaker voor dat een kunstenaarsinitiatief een atelierpand in eigen beheer kon nemen."
'Geen Stad Zonder Kunst', research report May 2020
https://www.bkinformatie.nl/artikelen/geen-stad-zonder-kunst-2/

Mr. Tollenaar
The director of the school, Mr. Tollenaar was a very strict man. He would go to anti-Vietnam protests to see if there were any teachers or students present. Also, he was known for sending boys with long hair to the hairdresser.
One of the newspapers articles confirms this image of a strict school without the ‘longhaired’: “men [treft] er geen uitgesproken langharigen”.

Blaise Pascal
“The school, acoustically an oasis of silence, is permeated by the spirit of Pascal.” It was Mr. Tollenaar who initiated the idea of naming the school after Blaise Pascal, the “great universal Christian thinker”. After a long search, and with the help of ds. Jospin, the Amsterdam-based minister of the Waalse Gemeente, as well as ‘the society of friends of Pascal in France’, the death mask of Blaise Pascal was found. The owner of the mask, who chose to remain anonymous, decided to donate it to the school, where it was put on display. Tollenaar writes that the mask should remind the school of what the French novelist François Mauriac wrote was Pascal’s profession; “to embrace the bloody pole with both arms and to not raise his eyes much higher than the pierced feet of his Savior.” The death mask was on display on the first floor of the school.

Artwork
The artwork by ‘monumental artist’ Joop van den Broek on the northern façade was installed in 1968. It was a combination of glass and plastics. Over time, birds nestled into it and at some point, pieces fell down. There were no funds to restore the artwork and somewhere in the beginning of the 1980s the artwork was stored on the roof of the school.
Another artwork in the school was a Pascal-relief by sculptor Jan de Baat, was donated by the teachers: this was on display on the first floor in the hall. No image or trace was found of this artwork.
In the archive of Ingwersen we can find a brochure of the ‘Twee Procent Kunst’ policy; buildings should include artworks and two percent of its budget should be spent on art commissions.

VSO de Poort/Willem Hovy-Calvijn
In 1970 another school building was added to the same block as Pascal: Christelijke LEAO Calvijn (later Willem-Hovy-Calvijn or Katholiek College), also designed by Ingwersen. Sculptor Cor Dam made an artwork for this building. For this school, Ingwersen designed another typical Ingwersen gym building (on the corner of the Schipluidenlaan and what is today the Willem Frogerstraat).
In 1978 another school VSO de Poort (speciaal onderwijs) was added. These three buildings shared an inner court garden. Both were demolished in 2016, but before Calvijn briefly functioned as a broedplaats until asbestos was found. The sculpture by Cor Dam could not be saved.

Theatre plays and exhibitions
The Christian newspaper Trouw reports regularly on the cultural repertoire of the school with its large auditorium. It showed a Kafka exhibition (1971). But also, many theatre plays such as Oikos (1975) and De Witte Nacht (1984) in response to the racist murder of Kerwin Duijnmeijer. On Sundays the auditorium would often be used for church services as becomes clear from advertisements in Trouw.

The basement ‘de soos’
According to the many testimonials on Schoolbank.nl, in the eastern part of the basement bicycles could be partk. In the western part of the basement, there was a little bar where students organised their own parties. One testimonial states that it was a purple, silver den, with pillows and a little bar. Many other testimonials mention the heavy smoking / blowing. It is likely that this was in the 1980s.

25 years Pascal
In 1981 the school celebrates its 25-year anniversary.

From the 1980s on, the neighbourhood is ‘changing’. The school becomes a ‘black school’ in the 1990s – ‘black school’ is a very problematic term used in the Dutch public discourse when referring to a school with non-white pupils. Black schools have often been equated to ‘bad schools’. In 1998, the neighbourhood of Overtoomse Veld received a lot of attention across the nation when after a series of confrontations between kids, teenagers and police officers unrest broke out at the August Allebéplein, sometimes referred to as the ‘Moroccan uprising’.
Two years later, in January 2000, Paul Scheffer (of the labour party, PvdA) wrote ‘Het Multiculturele Drama’ (The Multicultural Drama), in which he declare the multicultural society to have failed. The essay was very much discussed and disputed, and became a turning point in the political landscape: it was instrumentalised by right-wing politicians to push their Islamophobic politics and the idea of a ‘multicultural society’ being naïve became more mainstream.

In 1999 the Christelijke Scholengemeenschap Pascal merges with the Christian Lyceum Calvijn and the Catholic College. Together they become Scholengemeenschap Nieuw West with different locations; Calvijn, Meridiaan, Comenius and Junior College West. The HAVO/VWO departments of the Christelijke Scholengemeenschap Pascal are merged together with the HAVO/VWO departments of the Catholic College, and renamed the Comeniuslyceum. Allegedly this was done in order to remove these departments from the ‘black’ area of Overtoomseveld to the ‘white’ neighbourhood of Nieuw Sloten.

In 2003, the school is renamed again; Calvijn met Junior College. Its new director A. Bleeker, formerly a director of two juvenile detention centres, introduces a ‘zero tolerance’ policy. It is then part of Interconfessionele Scholengroep Amsterdam (ISA), which in 2004 merges with ROC ASA, becoming a huge conglomerate that in 2006 is named ‘Amarantis onderwijsgroep’ of many schools and thousands of pupils. It received a lot of criticism, because of their expensive offices at Zuidas. Between 2006-2012 it includes sixty schools, but in 2012 Amarantis goes bankrupt because of corruption, after which Calvijn becomes part of ZAAM Scholengroep which it still is today.

In 2004 journalist Fleur Jürgens writes a tendentious article about the Calvijn, where she reports on the deplorable situation of both the education as well as the building.

“Het schoolgebouw heeft zijn glorie van de jaren zeventig verloren. De bruine vitrages hangen er nu als vodden bij. Leuzen als 'Samira, love you' en 'Fuck school' zijn op de buitenmuren gekalkt, aangevreten door betonrot of een fikkie. De school lijkt eerder op een oude bunker.”

In 2004, Journalist Margalith Kleijwegt follows class 2k of Calvijn met Junior College for an entire year. She is particularly interested in the role of parents of the pupils, and attempts to visit all of the pupils’ parents, which proves to be difficult, many of the parents are not responsive to her attempts. Together with the book, she also publishes a series of articles in Vrij Nederland. She “steps out of her own role as a journalist” and engages companies including Nike, ING and the Rotary Club, as well as politicians and writers like Felix Rottenberg and Geert Mak to help out Calvijn. They urge for a reorganization of the school as well as a new school building, because they believe that disadvantaged children deserve a beautiful building. The old, grey school building is often mentioned as a place of misery.

“Nieuwbouw – het oude, verwaarloosde schoolgebouw inruilen voor een nieuw gebouw waar je met trots naartoe gaat en waar alle gewenste onderwijskundige en pedagogische interventies en ideeën kunnen worden gerealiseerd.”

Kleijwegt’s book leaves out the social history of the neighbourhood, of labour immigration in the Netherlands, of the longtime disregard/mismanagement of the social housing system in the Netherlands and especially in Amsterdam New West. Instead, it zooms in on the family situation as well as the problems and the culture at school. Leaving out the more systemic cultural and material inequalities does little to offer proper context here. Throughout the book, there is a peculiar focus or even an obsession with the appearance of the Morrocan-Dutch or Turkish-Dutch pupils and their parents, which adds to the othering of the people described in the book which perpetuates the white gaze of the book.

The book becomes a bestseller. The author (or perhaps the publisher) seizes the opportunity of the death of the anti-islam filmmaker Theo Van Gogh in 2004, killed by Mohamed Bouyeri, to add a timely subtitle to the book: Onzichtbare Ouders: De Buurt van Mohamed B. Bouyeri however, grew up on the North side of the Sloterplas, but he did indeed go to school in Overtoomse Veld, to the Mondriaan college. In any case it seems unrelated to mention Mohamed B. in the context of Calvijn but of course the author implies that ‘these kids’ can all become murderers if we don’t gain control over the schools.

In June 2007 architectural office KBNG is commissioned by the scholenkoepel Amarantis to research possibilities for redevelopment of the school building. It is unclear what year the decision for Calvijn met Junior College to leave the building is taken, but it must be somewhere between 2010 or 2011. A new building is designed by Wiersema architecten which is taken into use in the end of 2015.

“Het gebouw is een ‘gadget’ op stedelijke schaal; Expressieve gebogen vormen in hoogglans zwart en chroom met de klassieke uitstraling van luxe artikelen zoals een Vespa scooter, Chanel damestas of een smartphone. Het imago van schoolgebouw volgt daarmee de (wens)wereld van de leerlingen. De vrijage met luxe neemt radicaal stelling tegen de achterstandssituatie waar de school en de buurt zich in bevond. De zwart spiegelende gevel reageert op deze inhoudelijk context.”

During the late 1990s the municipality of Amsterdam sets up a ‘satellite’ organisation; Bureau Parkstad, responsible to promote collaboration between the urban districts and housing corporations in the Western Garden Cities of Amsterdam, aimed at ‘urban renewal’.

In 2001 Bureau Parkstad presents a plan to redevelop New West: ‘Richting Parkstad 2015’. The main goal is to change the former garden cities from “being slightly worn out” into lively, varied neighbourhoods with Osdorpplein as its “vibrant heart”. The bad state of the housing is mentioned as a motivation for demolition and so is the social economic constitution of the citizens: there are too many poor people in this area. 13000 houses are planned to be demolished, which are to be replaced by a high number of koopwoningen: a planned increase from 15% to 40%. A more ‘diverse’ combination of people with different socioeconomic backgrounds is believed to uplift the neighbourhood.

Urban sociologist Helma Hellinga writes in the preface of her book Onrust in park en stad; Stedelijke vernieuwing in de Amsterdamse Westelijke Tuinsteden on the ‘urban renewal’:

“I got the impression that the real rationale was withheld, or at least that not everyone had the same goal. Was it about the built environment or about the people? I suspected that urban renewal was predominantly about changing the make-up of the population structure: they wanted more well-off people in these neighbourhoods. But this couldn’t be said out loud”

“Ik kreeg sterk de indruk dat er verzwegen werd wat de eigenlijke bedoeling was, of op z’n minst dat niet alle betrokkenen dezelfde doelstelling hadden. Ging het nou om de bebouwing of om de mensen? Ik vermoedde dat de stedelijke vernieuwing voornamelijk draaide om de verandering van de bevolkingssamenstelling: men wilde in deze wijken meer welgestelde bewoners. Maar dat mocht niet hardop gezegd worden.”

Later in her book, Hellinga critically addresses the worries about “a lack of social cohesion” which is an often-heard argument in the discussion on urban renewal. She writes that this worry seems rather to be about “too much social cohesion”, but then within one ethnic group. It becomes clear that the urban renewal discussion is ethnically motivated; it seems to have been a guise for uplifting and perhaps even cleansing the bad neighbourhoods.

However, various developments disrupt the far-reaching original ‘Richting Parkstad 2015’ plan for demolition and construction. In 2005 it becomes clear that the urban renewal plans don’t generate the influx of new inhabitants as hoped. The 2008 economic crisis doesn’t help either and with the Housing Act of 2015 it is ruled that housing corporations cannot realise new property. As a result, more efforts are made to focus on preservation and renovation of existing buildings.

While sociologists like Hellinga urged for a more critical investigation into the motivations for renewal and demolition, architectural historians and heritage organisations begin to fight for preservation with a different rationale. In 2004 ‘ProWest’ is founded by first generation New-westerners to urge for the preservation of the original design of the neighbourhoods as originally envisioned by Van Eesteren.

The post-war heritage of the Western Garden cities receives increasing attention and appreciation. Between 2003-2005 architectural historian Yteke Spoelstra conducts a research into school buildings from 1850-1965 for Bureau Monmenten en Archeologie of the municipality of Amsterdam. The building of the Calvijn met junior College and the gym receive the highest scores when it comes to architectural, urban and cultural/historical value and are rated as ‘first order’ (Orde 1). However, they never acquire official monumental status.

Another thread which runs through the Amsterdam urban renewal discussion, is the role of creativity and the arts. In the year 2000 ‘bureau broedplaatsen’ was founded; a municipal body that aims to provide professional artists and creatives affordable workspaces. ‘Broedplaats’ literally means ‘breeding ground’. In the years after 2000, support for this policy diminishes but according to gentrification researcher Roel Griffioen, it is Richard Florida’s 2002 book The Rise of the Creative Class which saves the broedplaats policy and helps legitimization for municipal support for the active development of creative ‘hubs’ with affordable workspaces for artists on the ground of economic motives; creativity is a motor of value and therefore of capital. Creativity is instrumentalised for urban renewal.

An important moment for New West is the label which many of the neighbourhoods receive in 2007, including Slotermeer Noord-Oost, Slotermeer Zuid-West, Geuzenveld, Osdorp Midden, Slotervaart and Kolenkit (often not included in ‘New West’). Ella Vogelaar minister of ‘Living, Neighbourhoods and Integration’ makes a list of forty ‘bad neighbourhoods’ in the Netherlands. These ‘vogelaarwijken’ receive a lot of extra (media) attention. Photos of New West with satellite dishes become equated with ‘vogelaarwijk’ as noted by Taf Hassam.

Around the same time, discussions arise with regards to vacant buildings. Since the 1981 Leegstandwet ‘anti-squat’ custodial use of vacant buildings has existed mainly to prevent buildings from squatting, which only became illegalized in 2010. This law ruled that it’s possible to rent out a vacant building temporarily before a building is going to be sold, renovated or demolished. ‘Users’ do not receive any regular tenant rights, they receive precarious temporary contracts to use or live in the space. In the late 2000s, temporary use becomes a buzzword among urban developers and architects.

In the same year, in 2007 Stichting Urban Resort is founded. Their aim is to realise affordable rent for work spaces for the cultural and creative sector. Their first project is Het Volkshotel in Amsterdam East for which Urban Resort comes up with a way to ensure a diversity of tenants; 40% of the spaces are reserved for tenants with a low income, 45% of the spaces is for tenants who are able to pay the ‘real price’ , while 15% of the spaces was for high income tenants. Self-management was key to keep the rent low. “Based on the idea of squatting and self-management, and because we don’t want to play landlord, we want groups to rent an entire floor”.

In ‘Uitwerkingsplan Podium Amsterdam 2012’ the building of the Calvijn met junior College is announced to be demolished, the gym, however is kept. Between 2012-2017, heritage foundation ProWest, in collaboration with Erfgoedvereniging Heemschut and Cuypersgenootschap, challenges the decision to demolish the building and urges to keep the important postwar building.

While the plans for the future are made, already in 2015 Urban Resort proposes a plan for the soon to be emptied school building entitled Cosmopolis. But the municipality decides to use the building in 2016 as an emergency location for refugees until the summer of 2016. After this, Urban Resort renovated the building and transformed the school into residences and workspaces. De Appel moves into the building in 2017.

In 2017, finally a revised plan of the development of the area is announced: ‘Herziening Uitwerkingsplan Podium Lelylaan’, 17 juli 2017. In the meantime, the additional school buildings (VSO de Poort and LEAO Calvijn) cannot be saved as asbestos is found.
In the 2017 document the municipality announces to keep both the main building and the gym, because the cultural value and appreciation of post war architecture has risen in the past years. However, still no monumental status has been granted and it is likely that this would hinder possibilities for renovation and transformation of the building (Kavel C). The 2017 plans reveal that the main building of the school will be connected to another, yet to realize, building (Kavel D).

From 2016 on, the municipality has commissioned research on the transformation of the main school building. Rowin Petersma is commissioned to do research on the redevelopment of the building, as presented on 1 December 2016. Three architectural offices (ML_A, Bureau SLA and XVW Architectuur) are commissioned to design proposals for the old main school building (Kavel C) and the newer addition (Kavel D).

The 2017 document announces a public tender for the redevelopment. “Kavel C/D ligt aan de noordzijde van de Cornelis Lelylaan en is de meest uitdagende opgave van Podium Lelylaan. Het betreft namelijk een unieke opgave tot het maken van een geheel van nieuwbouw (Kavel D) aan de Cornelis Lelylaan gecombineerd met de transformatie van het monumentwaardige hoofdgebouw (Kavel C). Kavel C/D wordt als één ontwikkelopgave aanbesteed middels een openbare en meervoudige tender.”

The programme of the building ‘ensemble’ will include apartments as well as ‘creative activity’ for start-ups and/or a ‘broedplaats’. “Het ensemble biedt ruimte aan een groot woonprogramma gecombineerd met veel ruimte voor creatieve bedrijvigheid, zoals start-ups en/of een broedplaats. Niet-woon functies kunnen een plek krijgen in de plint aan de Cornelis Lelylaan, maar zeker ook in het hoofdgebouw.”

“Lelylaan Podium Kavels C/D bieden ruimte voor een mix van woningen van 14.300 m² bvo wonen waarvan minstens 25% middelduur, voorzieningen inclusief broedplaatsen van 3.500 m² bvo en een gezondheidscentrum van 1.200 m² bvo.”

In 2020 the corona crisis hits the world. Many tenants of the building are unable to pay their rent.

Finally, in 1969, the new building is officially opened on the 10th of October of that year. It is referred to as a ‘showpiece’ or a ‘jewel’ of Amsterdam. In an article in Trouw, it is said that rather than 800 students, it houses 1100 students, a massive number at the time. In one of the memoires, a student refers to the school as a ‘learning factory’. It’s also called an ‘onderwijscentrum’ (education centre). The school is presented as ‘hypermodern’: students for example have their own microscope in the biology class.

The auditorium
The government would not finance the auditorium (aula), only a ‘overblijflokaal’ (classroom where one spends their lunchtime). This is why the auditorium had a double function as both, but in addition, the schoolboard themselves paid a lot extra for the costly aula. The auditorium is also mentioned as having the allure of a theatre, a “top accommodation” with 800 seats.