Yesterday, I went home thinking that I would return to a faculty with two floors completely burned, yet still standing strong.
WRONG! As reported by the news, the north wing of the building collapsed at approximately 7PM (local time). This debris hit mainly the canteen, which nobody liked. The first two floors were less damaged by the fire, and there is hope yet for the library and collections, which were housed on this floor.
However, the school board decided that life must go on and we (students) are free until Monday. They also said that they will permit students using more sketches, virtual models or non-model presentations. The staff should be equipped with laptops ASAP.
Many people still lost a lot of work, including many longtime staff, and Phd students who lost a lot of their research.
There will be temporary tents set up as studios until the school ends (which is 3 weeks, excluding exams), while lectures will be housed at different faculties. Model making can be supported by the Faculty of Industriual Design. Personally, this I don’t mind, I’ve always wonderd what those other faculties look like and this is a great opportunity.
Meanwhile, we were informed that faculty was offered necessary space by other faculties, the Dutch Architectural institute, the Berlage institute and some other spaces were offered in Rijswijk and The Hague. However, the faculty would like to stay in Delft.
The plan is to finish the academic year and plan for the long term will be made in the summer vacation, after which we should be decvently facilitated. There are no plans for new building competion as of now, but this will be decided later on (We would probably all like someone like Rem Koolhaas to design the New Bouwkunde).
The remains of the building are not yet safe and therefore any cause of the fire is not yet known. It is thought that it was actually a coffee machine that had a short circuit that started it all. The ruin is a great sight to behold. Whoever said that modernist buildings make bad ruins was wrong. The bare concrete and sooty wall are really unbelievable.
A large area around the building was closed off, so the pictures are from far away, but still…
BK just visible through the trees.
The collapsed north wing.
Peter
