At the edge of Castricum, where the village meets the forests and dunes, stands the former Antoniusschool. Its history is rooted in care and education. The school grew from the nearby Sint-Antonius institution, eventually developing into a school for special education. A new school building was established in 1978, followed by an extension in 1994. After decades of use, the building is now ready for a new chapter.
The proposal does not replace the school. It gives it another life.
The existing building is transformed into a small-scale hotel, with its spatial qualities and memory retained wherever possible. Instead of treating the existing structure as an obstacle, the design uses it as the foundation for something new. Rooms, shared spaces and routes are carefully inserted into the existing framework, allowing traces of the former school to remain present.
The most distinctive intervention is the landscape itself.
A new dune landscape is introduced over and around the building, partially embedding the hotel in the terrain. The architecture becomes quieter as it approaches nature. From the surrounding landscape, the building recedes; from within, carefully positioned openings frame the dunes, trees and sky.
The project reverses the conventional relationship between architecture and landscape. Rather than placing a building in nature, nature is invited to grow over the building.
This creates a hotel that is simultaneously hidden and open, intimate and connected. The rooms become places of retreat, while shared spaces establish a direct relationship with the landscape. Material choices, reuse and the integration of the existing structure reduce the need for new construction and give the building a second life.
The transformation is therefore not only a change of programme. It is a continuation of the site's identity: from a place dedicated to learning and care, to a place dedicated to rest and renewal.
The Antoniusschool becomes architecture that does not compete with its surroundings, but becomes part of them.
