In this thesis, research is done looking into the assessment of architectural competitions for school buildings in the Netherlands around 1960 and which role the design of social spaces played on the assessment. The main research question is therefore: ‘How were architectural competitions for school buildings assessed in the Netherlands around 1960, and which role did the design of social spaces play in this assessment?’. A case study about the 1959 competition for a primary school in the Netherlands is done in combination with architectural historical research to answer this question. The results of the research and case study show that the new ideas about education and school buildings, emerged after the Second World War, directed the development of a new type of school where room was left for social spaces as a place of interaction. In the assessment of the architectural competitions the jury would therefore focus on the implementation of the new ideas in the school buildings in which social spaces, and specifically a central common room, played an important role.