Marga Klompé Building in Tilburg by Powerhouse Company

The building contains a large lecture hall, 13 seminar rooms, and self-study areas for around 1000 students. The architectural firm Powerhouse Company has managed to incorporate all of these features into a compact cube on the university campus on the outskirts of Tilburg. The Marga Klompé Building has a floor area of 33 x 33 m and four storeys. The building is named after Marga Klompé, the first woman to hold a ministerial post in the Netherlands.

Wood inside and natural stone slabs outside

Tilburg University has set itself ambitious sustainability goals. At the same time, its campus comprises many post-war modernist buildings. This inspired the architects to build the Marga Klompé Building out of wood and clad it in a vibrant, grained Portuguese stone facade.

The aim was for the Marga Klompé Building to form a harmonious relationship with the neighbouring Cobbenhagen Gebouw, which was designed by the architect Jos Bedaux. With its shell limestone facade, this early 1960s building continues to define the campus's style to this day. The Cobbenhagen Gebouw is named after one of the university's biggest sponsors in the post-war period, not the Danish capital.

Ribbed ceilings for wide spans

The large ceiling spans posed a particular challenge for the timber construction engineers. The large lecture hall on the ground floor extends across the entire width of the building, and spans of over 9 m are also common in the seminar rooms. The ceilings are mostly ribbed constructions made of cross-laminated timber with relatively wide rib spacing. This necessitated thicker, and thus heavier, ceilings, which in turn had a positive effect on sound insulation.

Recycled jeans as insulation material

The planning team made use of the space between the ribs for cable routing and clad the ceiling cavity with wooden slats. The sustainability concept continues behind the scenes, too: the facades are partly insulated with recycled denim and a groundwater heat pump system provides heat. In summer, the building can also be cooled using groundwater. A large photovoltaic system on the roof of the building supplies electricity for the heat pump. The planning team made good use of the large atrium to improve air circulation, which significantly reduced the length of ductwork required for the ventilation system.

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