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SIMON VAN HASSELTSCHOOL
S.J. BOUMA, 1926-1928, Heesterpoort 1, Groningen
Simon van Hasseltschool / Simon van Hasseltschool ( S.J. Bouma )
© 2011 Ossip van Duivenbode

ARCHITECT(URAL OFFICE):
Siebe Bouma

BUILDING TYPE:
Buildings for education


RELATED BUILDINGS:
Primary Schools by Bouma

During the 1920s and '30s Siebe Bouma, then a young designer on the Public Works payroll, was able to set his stamp on the Groningen cityscape. This placed him in a position not unlike that of Dudok in Hilversum. During this period Bouma designed bridges, a string of distributing substations, a timber pavilion on Noorderplantsoen reminiscent of Oud's celebrated Site Office, street furniture, housing projects (the most famous being the Bloemenbuurt) and the Public Works building.
The most interesting architecturally, however, is a series of six primary schools he built between 1925 and 1932. A coincidence of events - the 1922 Primary Education Act, a reviving economy and the attendant added momentum in building residential estates - led to a great many primary schools being built during this period. The series of designs Bouma made saw his architecture develop from a local variant on the Amsterdam School to a cubic-geometric style deriving from Dudok whom he admired.
If the basic set-up of the combined Th. Thijssen and D. Bos Schools is still Amsterdam School, the details betray the influence of Frank Lloyd Wright.