VIVA Architecture: It's all about the ceiling

Bringing a homey and funky feeling in 30 year old school interior by the use of colors. Each renovated space gets its own color applied to the ceiling. Combined with wooden fixed furniture it produces a young, fresh and dynamic look and feel.

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Today, the choice of school for students is partly determined by the context and facilities in which the programs will continue.
With anticipation ODISEE chooses to undertake the renovation project of the existing catering, the cafeteria infrastructure as well as the large auditorium and several meeting rooms.

VIVA's designers apply the motto "it's all about the ceiling" as additional aesthetic guideline throughout the renovation.

In order to get rid of the heaviness and darkness of the existing situation; a singular color is chosen for the ceiling of each room to be renovated. The goal is a young, fresh and dynamic look and feel: blue for the cafe, pink for the sandwich bar and the auditorium a combination of shades of green and blue. One monotone color per room entails risks: it is often a bit boring.

VIVA Architecture circumvents this danger with a sublime find: placing a lowered ceiling in expanded metal that changes the perception of the colors. Depending on the angle, and on the point of view the color is nuanced and diffuse. At the same time it is a perfect way to hide the techniques while integrating lighting and ventilation.

For the large auditorium the same principle is executed with totally different means. In order to carry out an acoustic correction, hundreds of round sound-absorbing ceiling elements were suspended from the green painted ceiling following a three-dimensional scheme. You feel the presence of the color everywhere, but it is never dominant or dominant.

Neither dominant nor outstanding, the color is (felt) everywhere.

Location : Brussels

Area : 1.200 m²

Date : 2016 - 2017

Team : MCS Solutions

Photography : Koen Broos