Nova School of Business and Economics
Nova SBE is a leading school of business and economics in Portugal, recognized for its excellence in finance, management, and social impact.
Challenge
To reimagine how Nova SBE’s communal campus spaces can foster a stronger sense of belonging, collaboration, and innovation among students. The challenge was to move beyond conventional static space designs — rows of chairs and tables — toward dynamic, flexible environments that promote interaction, creativity, and connection. It’s a process of space, but also a process of culture: aligning with the values of the organization and ensuring that a space is never just a space.
Outcome
A comprehensive vision for Nova SBE’s shared spaces, with custom-designed furniture, adaptable architectural frameworks, and clearly defined areas for focused work, relaxation, and social connection. We wanted to create affordances — elements that encourage specific behaviours aligned with the school’s values. The result was a modular, evolving space-design system that adapts to the varied, predictable situations of a university campus of this complexity. Several prototypes have already been implemented, transforming daily interactions on campus and demonstrating the tangible value of student-centered design.
Our role was to design elements, environments, and affordances that reflect Nova SBE’s forward-thinking ethos. By blending research, co-creation, and prototyping, we developed spaces that adapt to students’ and institutional evolving needs — comfort, collaboration and inspiration.
Our role and goal
Space Designing for Comfort, Collaboration and Inspiration
To research, ideate, prototype, and implement a strategic vision for campus space design – translating insights from the community into tangible interventions. We curated the design process, from workshops to on-site prototypes, ensuring each solution aligned with student behaviors and needs. The goal was to create a campus experience where every space is not just a space, but it supports diverse working styles and enhances the sense of belonging for different personalities.
Approach
Co-Creating the Future of Campus Life
We started with deep contextual research — observing, listening, and mapping how students use the campus. From this, we identified patterns and opportunities to reimagine spaces for greater interaction. Through ideation workshops, we co-created potential solutions with the community. Prototypes of furniture and layouts were tested on campus, allowing real-time feedback to refine the designs. The final approach embraced modularity, sustainability, and adaptability, ensuring the spaces could evolve alongside the student body.
Data and Numbers
We helped transform Nova SBE’s campus spaces into active hubs for collaboration. Through thoughtful design and iterative prototyping, we co-created environments that respond to real needs, turning everyday spaces into catalysts for belonging.
Results
The collaboration redefined how Nova SBE’s community interacts with its campus. Early implementations have shown increased student use of communal areas, more informal collaboration, and higher satisfaction with study environments. Prototypes evolved into permanent features, reinforcing the value of research-driven design. The project became a reference for how physical environments can actively shape academic culture, innovation, and community spirit.
One of the most surprising findings came when the team realized that students were often leaving the campus to find spaces for collaboration or relaxation outside. This revealed the need for a truly dynamic campus environment that is both comfortable and functional, a real challenge when you are competing with the beach 50 meters away.
