FUCAM – Student accommodation and academic building on the UCLouvain site

The project site is located within the perimeter of the campus of the Catholic University of Louvain (UCLouvain-FU-CaM) in Mons. This campus is located approximately 1,300 metres from the city centre, along one of the main access roads to the city, the Chaussée de Binche (N90).

For UCLouvain, it is a matter of developing a SMART campus, focusing on creativity, entrepreneurship, pedagogical innovation, and new media, asserting itself as an international university that offers the «smartest» of all Hainaut campuses: a creative, cultural, connected, and eco-responsible campus.

The construction of these 80 rooms on the FUCaM Mons campus is in line with the strategic development of the campus, particularly in terms of the individualised support offered to students and the SMART character of the campus.

The academic building also reflects the SMART character of the campus. The aim is to locate premises dedicated to teaching, research, and service to society. It houses three laboratories, a multi-purpose computer room, a hemispheric auditorium, coworking spaces, a recording studio, a videoconference meeting room, and a catering area.

Technically, the heating installations of both buildings are connected to the existing heating network on the FUCaM site.

The energy design of the building was carried out to meet the overheating standards without having air conditioning equipment except in the computer rooms. In these rooms, air conditioning is provided by a heat pump which prepares hot water for the showers.

Detailed solar studies and dynamic thermal simulations were used to determine the optimal size and location of the glazed areas to minimise energy needs while ensuring a high level of natural lighting.

The ventilation is carried out with double flow air handling units with a heat recovery of more than 85%. A bypass of this exchanger and a studied oversizing for the critical premises allows an efficient night cooling and avoids the installation of air conditioning.

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