Forty Years of de Dion Trusses in Nineteenth Century Brussels Model Schools

Although, from 1830 onwards state education was one of the priorities of the new Belgian monarchy, it was not until 1875 that the policy and philosophy went into the meltingpot: inspired by the movement of the Art Nouveau, the École Modèle – a new school building typology, taking into account aspects of health, safety and hygiene – was put forward by the Ligue de l'Enseingement and architect E. Hendrickx. Famous architects such as H. van de Velde, H. Jacobs, E. Quétin and V. Horta got the assignment to design public schools in every community of Brussels according to this model school, where the préau – a spacious central covered courtyard – organized the entire school life. The prototype served as a guideline for over 55 schools in Brussels which were built between 1875 and 1920. Numerous metal roof trusses, varying from simple industrial Wiegmann- Polonceau trusses to richly decorated de Dion trusses, span the 9 to 15 m wide central hall. This paper investigates the evolution of the de Dion roof trusses spanning the préau and illustrates the role of the model school within the Belgian educational system.