henning larsen designs business school of hybrid timber in reims, france

competition winner henning larsen

Henning Larsen presents its design for the NEOMA business school campus in Reims, France. The project is expected to cover 26,000 square meters (280,000 square feet) and accommodate 4,700 students. With a timber design combining respect for the environment and above all a focus on student life, the Danish company’s proposal has been announced the winner of the international competition which saw entries by forty internationally renowned architects’ practices.

Together with Henning Larsen, the winning team includes Patriarche, Egis, Elioth, Etamine, Acoustb and Creafactory. The campus is scheduled to open for the start of the 2025 academic year.

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transforming the city of reims

The new NEOMA campus by Henning Larsen (see more here) will be sited west of the center of Reims, and will make up part of Port Colbert, a neighborhood in transfer. 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 the project is to convert this sector, while preserving and enhancing what makes the identity of this place: its history and its industrial heritage.

Jacob Kurek, Global Design Director and partner at Henning Larsen: ‘We are extremely pleased that we were able to win the competition for the new NEOMA campus with our design. It stands for entrepreneurship, flexibility, and design excellence. We will bring our expertise in university construction from more than 60 years to this project and develop it further together with NEOMA.‘

inside the timber neoma campus

The Henning Larsen-designed NEOMA 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, three amphitheaters, and event space with a 750-seat auditorium accessible from outside.

‘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.