Sint Lucas at Strijp‑S

SintLucas accommodates 450 VMBO (lower secondary) and about 1500 MBO (intermediate vocational) students from 12 to about 22 years of age. Actually, they will never all be there at the same time, because they are on work placement and pursuing graduation projects elsewhere on location. The school has branches in Boxtel and Eindhoven. Strijp‑S will mainly have the students involved in media. Game developers and artists, interactive AV producers, media managers, etc.

Own vision on education

Oligschlager: “We were relatively isolated in our old school building. We weren’t physically part of the creative community. The place and design of the new building are aimed at connecting. Educationally, we have taken major steps in the last few years. Let go of old insights and developed new ones. But our old location blocked this renewal. Our educational concept is aimed at connecting with the creative section of the business community. And that is very well‑represented in Strijp‑S. Concepts such as co‑creation, a context‑rich environment and the fulfilment of ambitions are centre stage.

This vision will be much easier to realise in Strijp‑S. We are moving from a residential neighbourhood to the heart of the creative community in Eindhoven and we emphatically want to be part of that. We’ll have a magnificent theatre hall at our disposal and we’re already working with our future neighbours such as Plaza Futura, Baltan Laboratories, BROET and MU. So we hope our inner courtyard will become a meeting place for all the creative minds in the neighbourhood. Students still partly learn in school, but this is actually an outdated concept; students learn everywhere. And of course, students have to study, but mainly to shape their own education.

On historic soil

The programmes in Eindhoven are quite digitally oriented, which is why we consciously chose Strijp‑S at the time. Because why wouldn’t you make use of what’s already there: a historic building and a neighbourhood with no fewer than 750 companies large and small, mostly creative. We think we can, as makers, add something to this vibrant environment.

Familiar with Strijp‑S

We are actually not entirely new at Strijp‑S. Two studios already have a link with SintLucas: Grow in the Videolab is manned by former students who are taking their first steps as entrepreneurs with assistance from the school. And the community centre under the Strijps bultje accommodates Studio Kruid, a group of students working for and in the neighbourhood, by way of an alternative learning pathway. And of course we frequently work with MU on all sorts of educational and research pathways. For example through reversed mentoring. A project involving older people learning from young people and vice‑versa. In addition, our students can do work placement at the GameLab and at Founded by All.

Creative Lab Brainport

Creative Lab Brainport is a fully new initiative. This is a cooperation between various training institutes on the one hand (SintLucas, Fontys and Avans) and the regional business community on the other. Stimulated by Brainport, SME can present our students with challenges for the future, challenges they can tackle. Our region is known for its innovative clout and within this scope, the creative manufacturing industry shouldn’t be lost sight of. I would like to call on all Strijp‑S entrepreneurs: ‘Drop in and see what we can do together’.

Mobility

Residents might be concerned about the increasing activity, but we are very well‑prepared. We have a spacious bicycle cellar and we have reserved a number of parking spaces in the car park behind the Strijps bultje. We are also very happy about the extensive public transport links. We are now very easy to reach by bus and by train. It even brings our two locations in Eindhoven and Boxtel closer together. Whereas in the past it took at least half an hour, you now travel from Boxtel station to Strijp‑S in twelve minutes. We connect ourselves this way too.”

Curious?

The official opening of the new SintLucas will take place during Dutch Design Week. But after that there will also be opportunity for admiring the building. This will be possible during the regular Open Days, or people can just drop in.