Il progetto propone una strategia finalizzata all’estensione graduale dell’attuale facoltà nella vicina area cittadina denominata Julianalaan, al motto "Lo spirito giusto, il progetto giusto, la sede giusta".


The Right Spirit

The team of governors and architects for the development of the temporary
lodging of the Faculty of Architecture after the fire did an excellent job. The
transformation of the old TU main building is in full blast now. The fi rst results
are almost perfect. They show, in our opinion, the right spirit and atmosphere,
not only for this moment of crisis shortly after the great disaster of the fi re,
but also for our conception of the architectural culture cultivated in the
Faculty since a long time.

The Right Concept

We see the work done up till now as the fi rst step to a more permanent
solution for the accommodation of the Faculty of Architecture. Instead of
one competition for a completely new faculty building, we propose to make
a second step in the process already started and to organize two, three, or
maybe four competitions for further additions to the supposed temporary
lodging of the faculty.

Generally speaking the program of a school of architecture and its built
accommodation is only loosely connected. The curriculum changes every four
or fi ve years. Since more then a hundred years improvisation within existing
buildings is the rule in Delft. The forty years in the Van den Broek en Bakema
building, exclusively designed for architectural education, were no exception
to that practice. In fact what is needed, is a lot of generic working space. The
old main building of the TU provides plenty of it.

Yet the choice of a particular architecture for the faculty building is signifi cant
for our proposal. In fact the choice for an conglomerate composition of
diverse architectural interventions in an existent building complex stands for a
didactic program. Students in architecture and town planning today have to
cope with the value of plurality in contemporary culture. The conglomeration
of additions to the old main building of the TU gives the possibility to confront
students with a collection of today’s architectural productions. At the same
time the context of the existent architecture provokes them to evaluate the
quality of these new productions against the concrete background of earlier
productions.

To change the temporary accommodation of the faculty into a permanent one
at least three further additions are necessary: an architectural library building
with underground parking garage, an auditorium building and a exhibition hall
in the park; the last two buildings with underground connection to pass the
traffi c of the Julianalaan. These three additions, in our opinion, are essential,
because these facilities ask for special architectural treatment. Caring for the
conservation and transfer of the knowledge and wisdom accumulated in the
faculty, these facilities can be seen as the permanent institutions amidst the
constant improvisation of the school.

This architectural culture - critical and realistic in its scientifi c approach,
pluralistic in its design methods by principle – is pertinent to the Delft
educational program. Every prestigious all-embracing new building project
of whatever kind of world famous architecture at this moment will be a
corruption of the schools spirit of recovery. It will also miss the opportunity
to show the mastery of the school in tackling the most urgent task of
architecture and town planning today: the transformation, re-use and up
dating of existent urban environments.

The Right Location

The reacquisition of the old main building of the TU for the Faculty of
Architecture brings the university near the city center again. Using the
campus idea for the present reconstruction of the TU district sets this public
institution apart form its cradle and makes it much more introvert. Outsiders
coming by car from the A13 are only confronted with backsides. Railway
stations are far away. Only the new tramline is thought to compensate for this
loss of public appearance.

Relocating the Faculty of Architecture, the most public oriented part of the
TU, can bridge the gap between city and university. It can change the park
in front of the old main building into a real public space. Abolition of the
northern traffi c route creates a big park with direct access to the waterway
around the historic city. The Architecture Gallery, the Architecture Auditorium
Building, the Stylos Café, together with the TU Hortus Botanicus and the park
itself surrounded by old university buildings will provide for places of interest
to the general public. An extra footbridge moreover will give connection to
the TU Technical Museum, just inside the old center.