From Hierarchy to Harmony
Adaptive Reuse of the Officer’s Casino Soesterberg Inspired by Waldorf Education
L.M.G. Gudde (TU Delft - Architecture and the Built Environment)
W.L.E.C. Meijers – Mentor (TU Delft - Architecture and the Built Environment)
T.P. Bennebroek – Mentor (TU Delft - Architecture and the Built Environment)
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Abstract
This graduation project investigates how the Officer’s Casino in Soesterberg, a former military heritage building built in 1941, can be adaptively reused as a contemporary primary school while balancing heritage values and everyday educational use. The research addresses the tensions that arise between the existing architectural character of the monument and the spatial and sensory requirements of a modern learning environment.
Using a Research by Design methodology, supported by Spatial Building Typology analysis, literature review, and precedent studies, the project explores how architectural interventions can mediate between preservation and transformation. Based on an analysis of the building and the local educational context, Waldorf education was selected as a suitable educational model due to its emphasis on sensory experience, movement, creativity, and connection to nature.
The research demonstrates that adaptive reuse does not require a complete transformation of the existing structure. Instead, a selective approach is proposed in which the monumental central spaces are largely preserved, while the wings and carefully integrated additions provide the flexibility needed for contemporary educational functions. Through targeted interventions involving daylight, materiality, spatial atmosphere, and newly added volumes, the project creates a balance between historical continuity and present-day educational needs.
The project concludes that architectural tensions between heritage and new use should not necessarily be resolved, but can be negotiated through design. In doing so, heritage buildings can offer spatial qualities that enrich contemporary educational environments and contribute to the diversity of school architecture.