A limited colour and material palette help the Cube Education and Self-Study Centre, designed by Kaan Architecten, to blend with existing buildings on the Tilburg University campus in The Netherlands.
Rotterdam based Kaan Architecten has added the new building to the northwest of the Dutch university campus, which also includes the protected 1960s Cobbenhagen building by architect Jos Bedaux, named a national monument in 2015.

The brief was to create a multi-functional building where students, faculty and academics could meet and collaborate.
The resulting building, called Cube, has similar proportions to the Cobbenhagen building and provides 11,000 square metres of space for up to 2,200 people a day.

"The great thing about the Tilburg campus is the setting beautifully surrounded by trees, with the northern part of the campus being referred to as 'Het Bos' (the forest)," said Kaan Architecten project architect Timo Cardol. "It was very important for us to make a spacious building which has a free flow and many sight lines," he told Dezeen. "Because of the many different users in the building, we wanted to create a very clear layout which is evident in the open plan and symmetry of the building."

The structure is shaped like a squat cross, ensuring each of the facades has a unique view and appearance from the outside. The south facade, which faces the centre of the campus, is almost entirely glazed.
"We developed a new U-shaped wing p...