The future of TU Delft’s monumental high-rise, home to The Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science (and of course two Peregrine Falcons named Evi and Geert) has become a little clearer.
This is thanks to a decision made by the executive board in December 2015, making it almost certain that ‘Wiskunde en Informatica’ will no longer be housed in the high-rise of building 36.
Delta ran an article in October 2015 examining the possibilities for this building which costs millions of euros to maintain every year. Though a final decision has not been made, another step has been taken; on December 15 the Executive board officially decided to find new housing for mathematics and IT, currently located in the high-rise which is now deemed “not in the scope of building 36/EWI” according to Iljoesja Berdowski. As the development manager of the EWI 2.0 project, Berdowski explained that the area around the labs will continue housing Electrical Engineering, however the board decided that the high-rise of building 36 is unsuitable for academic purposes and “it is very likely that EWI will not return to the high-rise.”
While Facility Management and Real-Estate are tackling the vast problem of where to move everyone, the building itself still poses a difficult question. Previous discussions considered appropriating it for office-space for other parts of the university; however Berdowski poses the question ‘if it is not suitable for the EWI offices, why would it be suitable for offices of other faculties?’
Several likely candidates for the future have emerged, on which the Executive Board will vote on before the summer. An erfpacht, allowing a private company to turn the building into student accommodation, is something many still hope for. While an erfpacht would keep the high-rise of building 36 on the Campus – and standing – it requires an investor to sink costs into the renovations, and Berdowski cautions that “in the long term it is a risk, going for student housing.”
The other option would be demolition, something which has long been a rumor on campus. While in the short-term demolishing would be an unpleasant process Berdowski adds that in the long-run there is potential to make way for something new – an education center, for example. Both have positives and negatives, and both would be politically difficult options, not only because the building is one of the most visible in Delft, but also because it is a municipal monument.
It is hoped the EWI high-rise will be completely empty by mid to late 2017, in preparation for whichever decision the board ultimately takes.
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