Reims, France
“This project builds on our expertise in university construction from more than 60 years and adds a special focus on user health and wellbeing based on recent valuable research,” states Nina la Cour Sell, Design Director, and Partner at Henning Larsen Architects.
European Prize for Architecture laureates Henning Larsen Architects and Lyon-based architects Patriarche have been named the designers of NEOMA’s new French Business School, in Reims, France.
Besides Henning Larsen Architects and Patriarche, the winning team includes Egis, Elioth, Etamine, Acoustb, and Creafactory.
Overlooking the channel in Reims, the timber hybrid design for NEOMA Business School’s new campus of 26,000 m2 aims to accommodate 4700 students and is scheduled to open at the start of the 2025 academic year.
Located west of the center of Reims, the site was chosen for the new NEOMA school is part of a neighborhood in transfer: Port Colbert.
This is a former industrial site today partially abandoned to which the city of Reims wants to give a second wind.
In the past, the Port Colbert district was full of all the city industries: Reims breweries and cast-iron workshops aluminum among other things.
The objective of the city of Reims and of our project is to convert this sector while preserving and enhancing what makes the identity of this place: its history and its industrial heritage.
“This project offers several advantages, especially a strong visual identity which will make the campus clearly recognizable,” explains Delphine Manceau, Dean of NEOMA Business School.
“It combines very strong identifying elements, for example, the large hall which places the student at the heart of the building.
We also favored the use of wood and glass to promote a friendly atmosphere and flood the area with light. Several easy-to-access green spaces are planned for both the inside and outside of the campus.”
As is often the case in centrally located former industrial areas budding small businesses and local “pop-up” events have populated the area of the site in recent years.
The new NEOMA campus is inspired by this entrepreneurial atmosphere that has changed the area from a geographical location to a PLACE in people’s minds.
“With the new NEOMA, we want to keep this impression of “anything can happen” and create an open invitation to shape and to take ownership of its environment and its future,” says Søren Øllgaard, Design Director, Europe, and partner at Henning Larsen.
The new campus, which opens towards the canal and parks that surround it, offers views of bustling student life and the central structure in wood attracts the attention of passers-by with its stepped green landscape.
The school holds 85 classrooms, two amphitheaters, and event space with a 750-seat auditorium accessible from the outside.
In line with the school’s strong commitments in terms of sustainable development, the future Reims site aims to be an environmental benchmark, with internationally recognized certifications such as LEED, WELL, and E+C.
The project also places the health and well-being of students and staff at the center of its design.
Construction is expected to start in the spring of 2023; move-in is expected for the summer of 2025.
Project: NEOMA Business School
Architects: Henning Larsen and Patriarche
Landscape Architects: Henning Larsen
Structural Engineer: Egis
Client: NEOMA Business School
Photographers: Henning Larsen
