On 14 March 2009 the jury announced the winners of the international open ideas competition ‘Building for Bouwkunde‘. The ideas of the winners and honorable mentions, 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 new TU Delft faculty of the future. The winners received the prizes during an award ceremony at the Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAi) in Rotterdam. All entries of the competition and the results of the Think Tank are part of an exhibition in the NAi. The exhibition can be visited from 15 March until 7 June 2009. More information can be found on www.nai.nl.

From The Competition Brief:

Loss and opportunity

On 13 May 2008, the Faculty of Architecture of the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) was unexpectedly reduced to ashes by a devastating fire. It was shocking to see how this sturdy building, which was full of valuable collections and always bustling with activity, turned out to be so vulnerable. Both in a material and an emotional sense, the fire was undoubtedly a major loss. The fire shook the foundations of the Dutch architectural community. Nevertheless, this community soon joined forces to set to work again. The Faculty of Architecture in Delft was already renowned the world over for its decisive, innovative and pragmatic approach. And it is precisely thanks to this characteristic attitude that the Faculty’s sorrow regarding the loss was coupled with an enthusiastic and unflagging energy to enter a new phase. Indeed, the loss of the faculty building also offers new opportunities. Opportunities to take a fresh and critical look at the education of the future, opportunities to realize a modern, innovative and refreshing design for the university building, which can hold its own in terms of power and presence with the well-known Bouwkunde building from the years of Van den Broek and Bakema. Precisely because it intends to realize this specific ambition, the Faculty of Architecture has decided to organize an open international ideas competition, in preparation of a project competition for the new faculty building in 2009.

This competition creates firstly an opportunity to stimulate research by design. After all, combining design and research makes it possible to use a design to test a conceptual vision, and consequently strike a good balance between abstraction and reality. Secondly, the ideas competition makes it possible to also encourage creativity among the important younger generation of designers. The Faculty sees it as its task to explicitly offer this group a chance to enthusiastically think along regarding the scope of the educational building of the future. Finally, the competition is aimed to stimulate scientific development in the field by means of critical reflection and debate. Sustainability, as an integral aspect of both the future educational program and the faculty premises, forms a theme of considerable urgency in this context.

More than a building

Almost by definition, people are influenced by their study and work environment, and, vice versa, a building only starts to live as an environment when it is used. In the case of an architecture faculty building, this effect is probably even stronger. After all, this is where the students are introduced to the profession, where they acquire a passion for architecture and learn to put it to use. The building can serve as a familiar point of reference for many aspects of the profession, and at the same time it can be scrutinised and questioned: the building becomes a subject of study, debate and criticism.

Although the old faculty building was by no means universally acclaimed as a shining example of fine architecture, it was part of many people’s academic and professional life – not just as a structure, but almost as a personality. Bouwkunde – the official Dutch name of the Faculty of Architecture – acquired a far more immediate meaning. Bouwkunde was that particular location in Delft, with the large hall where everyone kept running into one another, the place where one spoke with colleagues or (fellow) students, where one attended lectures by well-known architects in packed lecture-halls, the setting for the Bouwkunde party, the place where people stood in line for the canteen and where, tired but proud, students presented their project after nights of drawing. Bouwkunde stood for a degree program, a social setting and a presence in its own right. In Dutch, bouw can refer to both the activity of building and the physically constructed object. Kunde refers to craft, but also has connections with knowledge and art. Bouwkunde, in other words, describes a creative process, the balancing of workmanship and art, construction and appearance.

The winners (click here to download boards of all winning projects)
After careful consideration in several rounds, the jury came to the following decision:

First prize (ex aequo, each 15,000 euro)

A WORLD WITHOUT OBJECTS:  Download Boards (PDF)
Gijs Raggers (1973, architect)
Gijs Raggers architect
Rotterdam, The Netherlands

amalgam: Download Boards (PDF)
Laura Alvarez (1977, architect)
laura alvarez architecture
Amsterdam, The Netherlands

GREEN-HOUSED CULTURE: Download Boards (PDF)
Marc Bringer (1972, architect) and Ilham Laraqui
Marc Bringer Architecture
Paris, France

Second prize (ex aequo, each 5,000 euro)

BK City, not a metaphor: Download Boards (PDF)
de Nijl Architecten
Henk Engel (1949, architect), Erik van den Berg and Marius van der Meulen
Delft, The Netherlands

LEARNING AND CREATING: Download Boards (PDF)
Olli Raila (1983, student), Heikki Muntola, Heikki Riitahuhta, Mikko Jakonen and Eetu Arponen
Department of Architecture, University of Oulu
Oulu, Finland

Vertical Forum: Download Boards (PDF)
Elsbeth Ronner (1984, student) and Mick van Gemert
Faculty of Architecture, TU Delft
Delft, The Netherlands

Honorable mention

Ego Eco-System: Download Boards (PDF)
Marc Koehler (1977, architect), Martijn de Geus, Miriam Tocino, Stepan Havlik, Carlos Franco, Hans Smolenaers, Bart Popiela

Consultants: Peter de Bois (TU Delft & Hogeschool van Amsterdam) and Matthijs Leendertse (TNO)
Marc Koehler Architects bna
Amsterdam, The Netherlands

POST IGNEM: Download Boards (PDF)
Tom Haelvoet (1984, architect) and Eveline Hanssens
Haelvoet-Hanssens Architecten
Wondelgem, Belgium

For further information visit the competition’s website.

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