A family resemblance
 
Renovation maintains original appearance of school
 
 
The original architect of the Saint Jan School in ‘s-Hertogenbosch was Nico van der Laan, who designed the building in the architectural style of the ‘Bossche School’, which he himself founded with his brother, the monk Dom Hans van der Laan, in the 1940s. The brothers and their followers developed a remarkably uniform style, inspired by early Christian architecture and characterized by the use of simple geometric shapes.
 
When renovation of the school became necessary, the Commission of Welfare of ‘s-Hertogenbosch considered the school of such high architectural importance that they insisted its appearance could not be altered. The renovation included cleaning the façades, renewing the jointing of the brickwork and replacing the windows. The new windows have a visible width that is equivalent to the original steel frames, and their colour was tailored to match the original windows. Nico van der Laan’s son – himself an architect – acted as advisor to the city authorities and was delighted with the end result.