New European Bauhaus Education Champions 2023

Welcome at the climate adaptive school ground in Sint-Paulusschool Kortrijk. It was one of the 23 projects selected for the Flemish Environment Department's Proeftuin Ontharding. Through this campaign, the Flemish government is committed to both climate adaptation and mitigation. Softening combats heat island effects, provides more space for water and ensures better air quality, greater biodiversity and more CO₂ storage, among other things. The school made a commitment to connect 90% of the roofs to a new rainwater system where reuse and infiltration into the soil are paramount. In addition, the entire playground+ car park (4000 m²) was demolished and reconstructed. The distribution of new tiling -green areas is 50/50. Of the total 4000 m², 2000 m² is reconstructed as green zones. Some paving is still needed for various school activities. The rainwater that falls on that paving is collected and goes into the ground via an infiltration system. In this way, the entire school site, including buildings, covering 4800 m² has become a zone where rainwater is reused or infiltrated. For the redevelopment of its playground, St Paul's worked on a comprehensive participatory process involving children, teachers, parents, contractors, play and landscape designers. The project realised ample softening with great attention to ecological design and increasing the collection capacity and reuse of rainwater. The children see this process happening and consequently learn about it. We have also set up a water play area in the playground, where children get to work with water. It was also important for our school to think about the heat stress caused by excessive sunshine on a barren concrete plain. Planting trees, regional greenery and reducing concrete surface will provide shade and cooling in the long run.The air quality at and around our school is also important. Here too, more trees play an important role. They help capture our CO2 emissions, retain them and help filter the air.