International student house | cepezed

On Thursday October 5th, the official opening of the new, cepezed-designed International Student House (ISH) in Delft took place as part of the National Student Housing Congress. With 332 units, the project offers accommodation for some 350 international students.

The ISH is part of the master plan Technical University Campus North, which also includes the transformation into student apartments of formerly vacant, monumental university buildings. Overall, the plan now realized offers lodging for over 900 students. Within the area as a whole, the ISH functions as the central meeting point and city living room for students.

The TU Campus North plan is a close cooperation between the Delft Technical University, student housing developer DUWO and the municipality. Aside from accommodation capacity, the goals hereof include a stronger relation between the city and the TU campus, a dynamic interaction between students and the stimulation of connections between communities.

Thus, the ISH also fulfils a substantial function with regard to the social coherence and urban scheming within the area directly adjoining the Schie river. Related to dimensioning, a lot of attention was paid to a strong connection with the surrounding monumental constructions; concerning the overall spatial set-up, the goal was a structure that closely links the complex to its direct vicinity. The new construction consists of two u-shaped blocks of partly five, partly six and partly ten storeys, the floor plans of which jointly constitute a rectangular composition. This way, the ISH is actually made up of two buildings, but it is strongly experienced as a unity.

The positioning of the new construction lends the area a logical structure with a clear sequence of public spaces. Liberally sized passages in the long sides of the rectangular constitute a self-evident interconnection between the different parts hereof: a square along the western Professor Schermerhornstraat, a courtyard in between the building blocks and a future park on the east side.