The Penta is a new campus building for Howest University of Applied Sciences in Kortrijk, Belgium, designed by ABDM architecten and RAU. Conceived as an inspiring and adaptable learning environment, the building brings together classrooms, laboratories, auditoria, a library, study areas, meeting rooms, a restaurant and spaces for informal exchange within a compact, landscape-integrated structure.
Rather than treating the campus as an isolated educational facility, the design establishes a meeting place where learning, working and social interaction become part of a shared spatial experience. The approximately 11,000-square-metre building accommodates changing educational programmes while maintaining a clear and legible organisation.
A building embedded in the park
Located beside the historic Magdalena Park, The Penta was designed as a building that is a guest within the landscape. A substantial part of the programme is placed partially below ground, allowing the volume above the park to remain relatively compact. The roof of the lower level becomes an extensive green landscape that continues the surrounding vegetation across the building.
Strategically positioned cuts in the terrain bring daylight deep into the partially submerged spaces and create direct views towards the park. As a result, the market square, restaurant, library and auditoria below ground retain an open character and never feel disconnected from their surroundings.
Above this landscape base rises a five-sided volume with rounded corners, which gives the building its name. Its geometry means that the full width of the campus is never visible at once, reducing its perceived scale. The volume deliberately departs from the orthogonal street pattern and acts as a recognisable landmark within the wider campus.
The façades respond to their orientation and immediate context. Large cantilevers on the eastern, southern and western sides provide permanent solar shading. These projecting green roofs vary from floor to floor, producing a dynamic composition while extending the park vertically. Planting is positioned at the lower edge of the windows, making the greenery visible from inside the classrooms and strengthening the relationship between education and landscape.
Learning organised around encounter
A transparent entrance façade and the daylight entering through the central atrium give the campus an open and inviting identity. A broad, gently descending staircase, which can also function as informal seating, leads towards the internal market square. This lively communal space provides access to the auditoria, library and restaurant and supports independent study, events and spontaneous encounters.
The upper floors are organised around the atrium, with classrooms, laboratories and staff areas positioned along open circulation routes. A sequence of atrium stairs connects the different levels in a continuous, spiral-like movement. Transparent partitions increase visual connections across the building and allow educational activity to become part of its architectural expression.
Coffee corners and covered terraces provide additional places for informal exchange, while offering views over the surrounding park. The clear organisation makes the building easy to navigate and enables spaces to be adapted with limited interventions as teaching methods and study programmes evolve.
The partially submerged auditoria, adjoining market square and restaurant can also be made available to external users without opening the entire campus. This allows The Penta to function as a resource for the wider community beyond regular teaching hours.
An integrated sustainability concept
Sustainability was approached as an integral architectural strategy rather than as a collection of separate technical measures. The compact upper volume limits the external façade area and reduces transmission losses, while the earth surrounding the lower level creates stable indoor conditions. Deep overhangs manage solar exposure, and generous daylight reduces dependence on artificial lighting.
The energy concept combines photovoltaic panels, passive cooling through a borehole energy system and a combined heat and power installation. The new building is also connected to the heating infrastructure of the existing campus buildings, creating a shared campus energy network.
Water is treated as a valuable resource through rainwater reuse, reduced consumption of drinking water, greywater recycling and a planted helophyte filter. The extensive green roofs contribute to water retention while supporting biodiversity and reinforcing the ecological continuity of the park.
Material choices further reduce the project’s environmental impact. Recycled aggregates were incorporated into the concrete, while blast-furnace cement was used instead of conventional Portland cement. Existing seating was recovered and reused in two of the auditoria, extending the life of materials already available on the campus.
The Penta demonstrates how an educational building can operate simultaneously as a flexible learning environment, a social meeting place and an extension of the landscape. Over time, the campus is intended to become richer—not only through evolving forms of education, but also through greater biodiversity, stronger social connections and a closer relationship between people, architecture and nature.
