New Bouwkunde TUDelft

New Bouwkunde is a radical design for a new school of architecture at TU Delft in the Netherlands. Based on the idea of bubbles as micro-environments for learning, the campus is a self-organized set of capsules. Study, project and research within a school of architecture are normally shaped by an intimate relationship of scholars and students within a tight educational community. Not at Delft where the sheer number of more than 5000 students of architecture outgrow any sense of personal scale. The school is in fact a campus within a campus, a system of complex programmatic requirements and nested spatial hierarchies. The previous school avoided the dilemma of size vs education by creating a machine for learning, absorbing students and teachers alike, dwarfing the individuals against its multistory labyrinth and forcing them into pre-described patterns of thinking. Ironically the original concrete building collapsed after a short circuit in a coffee maker set fire.

Resisting the idea of a single machine, New Bouwkunde is a cluster of cellular bubbles. Cells come in different types responding to programmatic requirements. The cells re-combine according to temporal and local specificities of the university environment. Studio cells, office cells, auditoriums and labs form micro clusters. Larger programmatic cells, such as libraries and restaurants attract those clusters again. Each cell constantly negotiates its position within the cluster and within the overall field. A shift in programmatic use will result in a new constellation. Each cell is equipped with a semi-translucent membrane. This membrane contains and protects the learning environment (Banham). The membrane acts as projection screen from the inside and communication device from the outside. The visual information of each cell reinforces the system. Thus the design achieves local specificity within a large cluster, bridging size and locale.