A plethora of ideas for the new TU Delft building International open ideas competition Building for Bouwkunde The jury of the international ideas competition for a new TU Delft Architecture faculty building has announced a shortlist of eight nominations. “Together they cover a wide range of high-quality concepts and ideas for inclusion in the new building. They provide ammunition for an interesting discussion”, Chief Government Architect and jury chair Liesbeth van der Pol says. The prize winners and those worthy of special mention will be announced at the Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAi) in Rotterdam on 14 March.

The nominees’ ideas, along with the findings of the TU Delft think-tank which looked at the future of the faculty and TU Delft campus, lay inspiring foundations for creating concrete plans for the future.

High-quality

TU Delft received 466 entries for the international open ideas competition Building for Bouwkunde. The task was to come up with a concept for the educational building of the future and the faculty’s place in Mekelpark (TU Delft’s campus) and Delft. The international jury assessed the entries in mid-January. The open nature of the competition resulted in a plethora of ideas for the new building. The jury was impressed by the quality of the proposals. Most entries kept to the old Architecture faculty’s location, sometimes with a clear reference to the old building. Others branched out and proposed other sites on the campus where the faculty could become a cohesive factor for TU Delft. A number of entries uses existing buildings and by doing so refer, explicitly or otherwise, to empty but significant buildings and to the faculty’s current accommodation. The nominations reflect the wide range of ideas.

Nominations

The nominations are, in order of registration:

1-Green-Housed Culture Marc Bringer (1972, architect)

Ilham Laraqui Paris, France

2-A world without objects Gijs Raggers (1973, architect) Rotterdam,

The Netherlands

3-Learning and creating Olli Raila (1983, student)

Heikki Muntola

Heikki Riitahuhta

Mikko Jakonen

4-Eetu Arponen Oulo, Finland Post Ignem Tom Haelvoet (1984, architect)

Eveline Hanssens Wondelgem, Belgium

5-BK City, not a metaphor Henk Engel (1949, architect)

Erik van den Berg

Marius van der Meulen Delft,

The Netherlands

Ego Eco-System Marc Koehler

6-(1977, architect)

Martijn de Geus

Miriam Tocino

Stepan Havlik

Carlos Franco

Hans Smolenaers Amsterdam,

The Netherlands

Vertical Forum Elsbeth

7-Ronner (1984, student)

Mick van Gemert Rotterdam,

The Netherlands

8-Amalgam Laura Alvarez (1977, architect) Amsterdam,

The Netherlands

Three criteria

The entries were assessed according to three criteria: visionary power, architectural quality, economic and ecological feasibility. The wealth of ideas, originality and innovative concepts was overwhelming. In architectural terms, many of the plans were extraordinarily well thought through. Among the remarkable concepts with respect to architecture education of the future there were proposals for flexible educational buildings, designed to adapt to changes in education over the course of the years. In addition to sustainability, the social and educational functions of the building were recurring themes in many of the entries. Sustainability, for instance, was reflected in special attention to the climate, energy management and the cohesion between indoor and outdoor areas, but also in feasible proposals for reusing existing buildings.

The entries exhibited in the former Technology Museum to be assessed by the jury.

International

About one third of the entries came from students, two thirds from architects. There was a noticeably high number of entries from Italy, where the competition was launched by Ronald Plasterk (the Dutch Minister of Education, Culture and Science) at the Architecture Biennale in Venice last September. The United Kingdom, the United States, France, Spain and Germany were also well represented. The challenge was taken up by participants from a total of 50 countries.

Jury

The jury comprised:

Liesbeth van der Pol chair, Chief Government Architect Rahul Mehrotra architect, Professor Department of Architecture MIT, USA Yung Ho Chang architect, Professor and Head Department of Architecture MIT, USA Herman Hertzberger architect, Professor Emeritus at TU Delft Kees Kaan architect, Professor at TU Delft Ole Bouman director of Netherlands Architecture Institute, Rotterdam Leanne Reijnen architecture student at TU Delft Herma de Wijn secretary, architect

Exhibition On 14 March 2009, the same day as the announcement of prize winners and those worthy of special mention, a debate will also be held and an exhibition Building for Bouwkunde showcasing the entries opened in the NAi. The exhibition can be visited from 15 March until 7 June 2009. On 13 May 2009, a book will be published on the competition and the think-tank, and a symposium will be held at the faculty’s temporary location on Julianalaan in Delft.

Information More information on the competition, the prize-giving and the exhibition can be found on www.nai.nl.