“Most things looks better when you put in a circle,” says LOW Architecten, which designed the primary school to serve as a central link between various existing public buildings – kindergartens, academies, sports facilities –  in a park in the Belgian city.

Although conceived as a single complex, the Merlijn school building consists of two volumes. The ring-shaped volume, the real heart of the green campus, provides a protected environment for infants at its centre, while a rectilinear block containing classrooms for older children across two levels links to its roof.

It reaches out from the circle to link with the surrounding environment and facilities, representing the children’s growth into adulthood.