TUD approves Design for TNW

May 2012 The Execuctive Board of Delft University of Technology has recently approved the design for a new building for its department of Applied Sciences. The design, that was made by Ector Hoogstad Architecten in collaboration with Pieters Bouwtechniek (construction engineering), Valstar Simonis (M&E consultants) and Cauberg Huygen (building physics) consists of 30.000m2 of offices and laboratory space, and will be built next to the Reactor Institute Delft as part of the new high tech district Technopolis. In spite of its very complex programme the spatial structure of the building is deceptively simple: two rectangular courtyard volumes are interconnected through a joint central atrium that serves as a natural focal point in the building's routing. Within this highly logical structure there is room for an optimal flexibility as well as the possibility of creating "specials", laboratories that require unusual specifications, such as a minimum of vibrations or an exceptionally small air temperature bandwidth. The preliminary design was completed in a record breaking four month period - an achievement of olympic proportions for a project of this complexity. This was possible only through a very intensive dialogue with future users. Work on the Design Development phase has already started. The building should - according to the planning - be operational in mid 2015.