‘The Architecture Faculty belongs in the city’

Wytze Patijn, dean of Architecture Faculty, is ecstatic about the decision. “It’s been made very clear to me during the past week just how extremely important it is for the faculty’s students and staff to all be housed at the same location. The main building offers the space we need. It also offers ample opportunities to turn it into a suitable Architecture building.”

Since the fire, the faculty has received numerous offers of accommodation in and around Delft. “We appreciate all the help that people have been offering and are extremely grateful,” Patijn said. The Julianalaan building was considered the best option because it’s located on the TU campus.

Meanwhile, according to a press release from the Municipality of Delft dated 20 May 2008: “The Faculty of Architecture building met all the necessary fire safety requirements for existing buildings. The requirements are set out in the provisions of the Dutch Official Regulations & Standards for the Building Industry, (established in 2003) as applied by the local authority. Failure to meet these requirements precludes the granting of an occupancy permit.”

Elsewhere, fourth-year TU Delft students Jan Wilbers (22) and Benjamin Groothuyse (22) had only just began a course as building assistants last year, but on the day of the fire it was these two students who first discovered smoke coming from near the coffee machines on the 6th floor of the Architecture Faculty. “There was water and electricity there, and that combination is of course dangerous,” Wilbers said. “We stood there thinking: we’ve got to handle this. We decided not to use water.”

The students immediately tried to stop the electricity in a fuse box and then grabbed a fire extinguisher. “Flames were shooting out of the coffee machine, exactly at the place where coffee normally comes out. We were trying to put out that fire with the fire extinguisher, when another building assistant came and said we had to evacuate the building. I thought: no kidding, we’re going soon, but later I was glad that we were forced to leave.”

As building assistants, Wilbers and Groothuyse then helped to evacuate people via the staircases. “Everyone was gone in a minute. I was surprised that everyone listened to us.” In all the confusion, Wilbers forgot that there were perhaps also some people who didn’t speak or understand Dutch. “Somebody asked if I could shout instructions in English, so I did my best to give orders in English as well.”

Security personnel evacuated people from the basement. “The other building assistants left the building, and then the first disaster tourists arrived.” Wilbers didn’t watch the fire. “I didn’t have time. Only later did it hit me. From the morning to late afternoon I was working on auto-pilot.”

Wilbers sometimes asks himself if he could have done more: “But all the actions that were done, were well done. I do think about this.”

Elsewhere, the clearance of the Architecture library begins this Friday. An Architecture library team has made an inventory of the materials in the library. The team has a map indicating where all the valuable and less valuable materials are located. The team’s clearance plan will be given to the demolition company. The team has also spoken with specialists from the Dutch Royal Library and National Archive about how to handle damaged materials once they’ve been recovered.

The cultural festival ‘Parade’ will have a special Architecture edition. Last Tuesday, the ‘Parade’ opened at the Architecture Faculties tent campus, called BK-City. Dean Wytze Patijn, and Terts Brinkhoff, Parade’s creative director, said they were in no doubt that architecture students and staff have earned the right to relax. After the opening, there will two performances per week. The Architecture ‘Parade’ ends on July 3; on this day there will also be a big end of term party for faculty students and staff.

Architecture instructor, Miguel Robles-Dura’n, from the MSc 2 Studio Urban Asymmetries at the Delft School of Design doesn’t want a new Architecture faculty building to be built. “It would be better for us to be located in Delft city center, among the people,” she said, during the opening of her program’s container in ‘BK City’. “In architecture the trend is to build spectacular, prestigious buildings, but in doing so, it raises the question of what the city’s residents have to do with it. Such a building with grandiose airs only polarizes people, stressing the differences between rich and poor and the power of the project developers, while it’s the residents who actually make a city.”

Robles-Dura’n continued: “We don’t want anything to do with a prestigious completion to design a new faculty building. We don’t want to be put in a jewelry box far from the city center. It should be about the ideas we have here at the Architecture Faculty, and not about the building. The Architecture Faculty belongs in the city center, among the people.” (DM)

This week’s round up of the latest news about the fire and recovery process at the Faculty of Architecture begins with the good news: the former main TU Delft building on the Julianalaan will be the new temporary home for the Faculty of Architecture. Wytze Patijn, dean of Architecture Faculty, is ecstatic about the decision. “It’s been made very clear to me during the past week just how extremely important it is for the faculty’s students and staff to all be housed at the same location. The main building offers the space we need. It also offers ample opportunities to turn it into a suitable Architecture building.”

Since the fire, the faculty has received numerous offers of accommodation in and around Delft. “We appreciate all the help that people have been offering and are extremely grateful,” Patijn said. The Julianalaan building was considered the best option because it’s located on the TU campus.

Meanwhile, according to a press release from the Municipality of Delft dated 20 May 2008: “The Faculty of Architecture building met all the necessary fire safety requirements for existing buildings. The requirements are set out in the provisions of the Dutch Official Regulations & Standards for the Building Industry, (established in 2003) as applied by the local authority. Failure to meet these requirements precludes the granting of an occupancy permit.”

Elsewhere, fourth-year TU Delft students Jan Wilbers (22) and Benjamin Groothuyse (22) had only just began a course as building assistants last year, but on the day of the fire it was these two students who first discovered smoke coming from near the coffee machines on the 6th floor of the Architecture Faculty. “There was water and electricity there, and that combination is of course dangerous,” Wilbers said. “We stood there thinking: we’ve got to handle this. We decided not to use water.”

The students immediately tried to stop the electricity in a fuse box and then grabbed a fire extinguisher. “Flames were shooting out of the coffee machine, exactly at the place where coffee normally comes out. We were trying to put out that fire with the fire extinguisher, when another building assistant came and said we had to evacuate the building. I thought: no kidding, we’re going soon, but later I was glad that we were forced to leave.”

As building assistants, Wilbers and Groothuyse then helped to evacuate people via the staircases. “Everyone was gone in a minute. I was surprised that everyone listened to us.” In all the confusion, Wilbers forgot that there were perhaps also some people who didn’t speak or understand Dutch. “Somebody asked if I could shout instructions in English, so I did my best to give orders in English as well.”

Security personnel evacuated people from the basement. “The other building assistants left the building, and then the first disaster tourists arrived.” Wilbers didn’t watch the fire. “I didn’t have time. Only later did it hit me. From the morning to late afternoon I was working on auto-pilot.”

Wilbers sometimes asks himself if he could have done more: “But all the actions that were done, were well done. I do think about this.”

Elsewhere, the clearance of the Architecture library begins this Friday. An Architecture library team has made an inventory of the materials in the library. The team has a map indicating where all the valuable and less valuable materials are located. The team’s clearance plan will be given to the demolition company. The team has also spoken with specialists from the Dutch Royal Library and National Archive about how to handle damaged materials once they’ve been recovered.

The cultural festival ‘Parade’ will have a special Architecture edition. Last Tuesday, the ‘Parade’ opened at the Architecture Faculties tent campus, called BK-City. Dean Wytze Patijn, and Terts Brinkhoff, Parade’s creative director, said they were in no doubt that architecture students and staff have earned the right to relax. After the opening, there will two performances per week. The Architecture ‘Parade’ ends on July 3; on this day there will also be a big end of term party for faculty students and staff.

Architecture instructor, Miguel Robles-Dura’n, from the MSc 2 Studio Urban Asymmetries at the Delft School of Design doesn’t want a new Architecture faculty building to be built. “It would be better for us to be located in Delft city center, among the people,” she said, during the opening of her program’s container in ‘BK City’. “In architecture the trend is to build spectacular, prestigious buildings, but in doing so, it raises the question of what the city’s residents have to do with it. Such a building with grandiose airs only polarizes people, stressing the differences between rich and poor and the power of the project developers, while it’s the residents who actually make a city.”

Robles-Dura’n continued: “We don’t want anything to do with a prestigious completion to design a new faculty building. We don’t want to be put in a jewelry box far from the city center. It should be about the ideas we have here at the Architecture Faculty, and not about the building. The Architecture Faculty belongs in the city center, among the people.” (DM)