Located between the campus and the city centre, old and new buildings come together on an international campus. After years of consultations, the buildings at TU Noord finally opened last Thursday.
A statue is revealed by rent organization Vulcanus. In the background, the weathered apartment complexes of DUWO shine in the autumn sun. (Photos: Roos van Tongeren)
Hundred year old TU Delft buildings are renovated into new office buildings. Next to them new, glass and weathered architecture apartment complexes. The square in the middle is brand new and the empty ground still needs to be filled with trees and shrubs. The opening of the TU Noord area is a real celebration, with speeches by Marja van Bijsterveldt, the mayor of Delft; Anka Mulder, vice-president of education and operations at the TU Delft; and Antoine Fraaij, chairman of the Board of Directors of DUWO. Toasts are made, presents are given and a statue is unveiled.
Marja van Bijsterveldt, Antoine Fraaij and Anka Mulder open the TU Noord area with a push on the button.
A fancy video for the opening of TU Noord shows what has been done the last years.
But the journey to the opening was not that cheerful. In 2003, the neighbourhood residents were concerned that the new buildings would generate more traffic. The municipality approved DUWO’s plans, but the neighbourhood maintained its position and appealed to the provincial authorities in 2007. In 2009, DUWO’s plans were revoked.
“DUWO tried to make a plan without involving the neighbourhood, and that didn’t work out well,” remembers DUWO director of Real Estate, Arne Dolle, while smoking a cigarette in the autumn sun. “After a while, the communications with the neighbourhood became more open, and we could listen to them more easily. In 2013, a new plan was proposed incorporating some of the suggestions of the neighbourhood. It had one hundred fewer apartments and included a park. These were very important for the neighbourhood, which then agreed to the new plan. The park will be a buffer for sewage as well, which is also good for the city.”
The new statue in front of the old building that hosts the new DUWO office.
TU Noord has several new features. There is the Common Room, a big living room where residents can meet each other and a special room for catering. And the old DUWO office building at Kanaalweg 4 hosts international societies for free. “We aim to create a great international community,” Dolle says. Antoine Fraaij emphasises this point in his speech: “I hope that internationals will look back at their time in the Netherlands and say, ‘I really was part of a multicultural society’.” The international residents are not forgotten on this festive day: after the official opening, there is an international barbeque with free food and drinks for the new residents.
The wall of Ion’s room is decorated by DUWO. “I like it, but other people have changed it.”
One of the new residents is Ion Martinee de Apellanie. He comes from Spain and is doing his Master in Mechanical Engineering in Delft. “I have my own room and bathroom and share the kitchen with two Indian students, three Chinese students and a student from the United States. The kitchen always smells like oriental spices,” he says, while he opens a cupboard to show that it indeed smells like someone has just cooked some spicy rice dish. “The building is perfectly located between the city and the campus. I like the fact that it is new, although sometimes it’s noisy because they are still working on the garden. Last week they finished the benches. It will be better when the everything is finished. You can really see the differences now though, and I am curious what it’s going to look like.”
“I like sharing the kitchen, because while you have your own room you still have a social life. You can also go to the Common Room to socialise. I’ve been there a few times. There is a television and Wi-Fi. The only bad thing is that it closes at 10 p.m.,” he says. Overall, he is satisfied with his house. “But they could improve the washing machines. We have four washing machines for the whole building. Last week, three of them were broken, so the last one was always full. Normally you pay two euros for a wash and one for drying. This week it’s free because of the broken ones last week. But because it’s free, they are all full the whole time again!”
At the barbecue, students from all over the world share their food. 
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