AIS STEMzone

Our design for a new creative STEMzone has transformed teaching and learning at Antwerp International School (AIS).  Inspired and guided by AIS’s desire to achieve profound institutional change, the scheme delivers an exciting variety of architectural spaces which are enabling AIS to deliver both its new STEM vision and its holistic pedagogy – centred on self-determination.

Founded in 1967, AIS is a highly regarded Kindergarten to Grade 12 international school, accredited to offer all three International Baccalaureate (IB) programmes.  AIS continuously challenges its entire community to ‘educate, inspire and empower’ and it was essential that the design for the new STEM facilities embodied this mission.

We retrofitted one of the existing buildings on the campus and transformed it to:

‘educate’ by supporting and furthering AIS’s process of inquiry – its innovative spaces enabling learning (in all its forms), experimentation and reflection.

‘inspire’ and engage all users through its visual interconnectedness, the spatial opportunities it offers, its beauty and volumetric proportions.

‘empower’ users by embodying AIS’s egalitarian philosophy and providing a variety of tailored spaces which motivate self-determination and autonomy.

At AIS, spatial design has become a true catalyst for change, as a teacher reflects  ‘I saw the new STEMzone as a perfect opportunity to give my students more flexibility and more choice on how and where they carry out their tasks in my lessons’. Students are stimulated by the brightness, the huge volume and the opportunities to socialise offered by the building. ‘The atmosphere of the STEM zone is fantastic, overall I feel more energised’.