Katho, the West Flanders university college in Kortrijk, has been pushing the boundaries of student rooms, and this month three volunteers moved their books and bags into the most extreme examples of where the future might lie. They’ll spend the rest of the academic year living in the rooms and report back on their experiences. 

The living experiment began, explains Larissa Deblauwe, communications coordinator for Kot van de Toekomst (Student Room of the Future), as an exercise in getting students to think about the general question of housing by applying the principles to themselves, with no holds barred. What if you could design a room exactly as you would want it? 

The three most developed answers, conceived and realised by teams of students from various disciplines together with an architect and an interior designer, are:
Gommer (minimalist): a seemingly empty room with a design that hides away its elements unless required. This room has the simplest look but probably the most intricate design
Soduko (social, sustainable and cost-cutting): using the rawest of raw materials to create a living space that’s practically cost-free (pictured)
iTechno (futuristic) – incorporates cutting-edge monitoring and control systems for everything from temperature to who’s calling at the door 

Three Flemish companies sponsored the materials, production time, assembly and transport. They included audio and video retailer Arnout; IT company Centric; flooring manufacturer Unilin; and the Kringloopwinkel, the region-wide chain of charity shops that recycles clothes, furniture and appliances donated by the public.

“The partner companies who worked on the project were challenged to think outside the box, to go over the edge,” Deblauwe says. “In the experimental phase, they were encouraged to scout out new pathways. And the students themselves were involved in realising the concepts, either directly in the case of the three residents, or indirectly via a class project or a Bachelor’s thesis.”

Project coordinator Hendrik Vantomme says: “We took the ideas to the extreme, to provoke reactions and to challenge the students. We want to hear from them whether these apartments are practical and liveable.” 

That experience will have real-life consequences. Based on the views of the guinea-pigs, Katho intends to renovate two blocks of student accommodation, for more than 100 students. “ This will give us a chance to apply what we’ve learned,” Deblauwe says.

www.kotvandetoekomst.be