Jaagpad: a new hive for internationals

The current student breakdown has 90 students from around the world, with many from India, China Spain, Poland and Turkey as shown on a big wall map with coloured pins in the hallway outside the communal space. For many this is luxurious compared to student accommodation back home. There are on-site cleaning and catering services, a courtyard with covered bike storage, and communal kitchens, laundry rooms and bathrooms on the upper floors with furnished individual rooms between 15 and 25 square meters.

From outside it looks like a standard concrete office from the seventies. But Stichting Herontwikkeling tot Studentenhuisvesting (SHS) Delft, run by students, contributed to the transformation of the building into appealing accommodation. With two previous vacant building conversions to student housing in Delft under their belt, SHS Delft applied their method of involving TU Delft students in a competition to design the most representative spaces.

“For internationals we wanted to recreate the atmosphere of Dutch student houses, living in a big house and doing stuff together,” said SHS chairwoman Bente Bast and treasurer Sem Nouws. Even before it was finished it attracted prospective international students looking for rooms during the summer.

Much of the appeal of Jaagpad is the tailor made communal space that has transformed the former office canteen into a space intended to get the students mingling in the evenings. The Studio ‘t MOJ design team of three master’s students from the Architecture and Built Environment faculty, Maarten Suykerbuyk, Olaf Bruins and Jaap Sybenga, came up with a winning concept. Inspired by the atmosphere of youth hostels, they have made graphic panels packed with local information and tips for internationals to make the most of their time at the university, Delft, the region, the Netherlands and Europe.