Collège Saint-Joseph — Turnhout

School complex combining New Objectivity and Art Deco, built in 1934-1936 to a design by the Jesuit Lode Taeymans in collaboration with the Brussels architect J.B. Van den Broeck; the school year opened there in September 1936, when half of the planned complex was complete. The grid plan, with red-brick wings under flat roofs, creates enclosed courtyards, and the beige ceramic window sills and continuous concrete beams emphasise the horizontal line. The light, spacious interior retains panelling of pastel fibre-cement (Eternit) sheets framed in black and varied floor tiling designed by Taeymans with reference to the De Stijl movement. After 1945 the work was continued in three phases by other architects, mostly not in the spirit of the original design; the building is recorded in the architectural heritage inventory.

Translated from the French original.