Campus Drie Eiken
For the 3 Eiken university campus, POLO Architecture designed three buildings with student residences and sports facilities grouped around a green square. Built in record time using prefab construction techniques, the competition-winning scheme is set to create a hub of semi-urban intensity within the lush park surroundings.
After winning the design competition, our POLO Urbanism team conducted extensive historical and morphological research into the current campus as a whole. The resulting image quality plan proved crucial in guiding our Architecture team’s design development of the project and creating a fitting architectural language. In keeping with the existing buildings, we avoided any composite or convoluted forms. We split up the building programme and consolidated it in three platonic volumes, organised around a square.
An urban figure on a green ground
The three building volumes are simple but distinct: Block, Slab and Tower. The Block (“Blok”) has its squat form dictated by the large sports hall and ancillary facilities it contains. The Tower (“Toren”) with student housing provides a formal exclamation mark, a bold statement piece which announces the campus from a great distance. Finally the Slab (“Balk”) completes the figure with more student rooms inside a low linear volume.
After exploring various options using extensive 3D-modelling, we arrived at a composition which limits the Tower's visual impact on surrounding residential areas and avoids throwing excessive shade on the newly created square. Subsequent wind tunnel tests demonstrated how this layout also prevents downdraught winds around the base of the tower, eliminating the need for a canopy at ground level.
The three volumes delineate a semi-urban square. This open space forms the hardscape counterpoint to the existing Agora which lies diagonally opposite—its shape now more clearly defined by the long elevation of the Block. The square itself acts as a raised forecourt to the surrounding buildings, accessible to everyone via a system of outdoor ramps.
Common student facilities are located on the ground floors of the different blocks, ensuring a permanent human presence and liveliness in the area. Where the design for the student rooms themselves is largely defined by market mechanisms and existing brand identities, we add differentiation and interest through the design of these common areas and the precise spatial sequence of programmes.
Prefab monolith
The two residential buildings are clad in prefab concrete panels with stone-like texture. Vertical joints shift location every few floors. This avoids a strong linear articulation and breaks up the Tower’s repetitive verticality. Additionally these joints are grouted to achieve a more monolithic effect for the whole block and counteract a “prefab”-like appearance—as preferred by planning authorities. Mitred joints at building corners further enhance this effect. The Block’s masonry façade integrates nesting blocks for swifts and claustra detailing to replace unsightly ventilation grilles.
In close collaboration with contractor Cordeel we designed the buildings around a prefabricated concrete structure using their patented CD20 system. This allowed us to achieve significant time savings during the building process. Construction speeds of 1 floor per week were achieved for the Tower, resulting in the building being ready for handover 6 months earlier than initially envisaged.
The use of prefab elements allowed us to avoid the application of finishes as much as possible, resulting in more time and cost savings. This principle also aligned with the operator’s brand aesthetic and provides a robust and durable environment suited to the rough and tumble of student life.
