
No 10 (2014)
Housing the Student
Housing for young people, specifically aimed at students, is an extremely hot topic at the moment. Due to the growing influx of (international) students to Dutch universities, student housing has again become a large-scale job, and the supply of quality housing is important in the battle for students. In a stagnant housing market, developers and investors alike are flocking to this job en masse.
Constant themes in the design of student housing are temporality, modularity and transformation. A new development is the conversion of vacant buildings, originally intended for other programmes, into housing for students. DASH 10 describes the history and typological variety of student housing, and maps out the needs of a new generation of city dwellers in order to take a look ahead – along with architects, developers, and policymakers – to see what is needed today and what will be needed in the future.
Dick van Gameren contrasts the English college model with the model of the North American campus from the perspective of the city, while Paul Kuitenbrouwer explores the typology of the student room in terms of its historical development and its many variations. Harald Mooij reconstructs the Dutch job of building student housing after the Second World War, and illustrates the then-lively debate with several early projects. In a fascinating history of Madrid’s Residencia de Estudiantes and its simultaneous occupancy by Federico García Lorca, Salvador Dalí and Luis Buñuel, Sergio Martín Blas shows that student housing can do more than merely provide shelter. Interviews with Niek Verdonk and Marlies Rohmer about topics including youth housing in Groningen, and with André Snippe, who is developing existing office buildings into Campus Diemen Zuid, link theory to current practice.
The plan documentation for projects including Eero Saarinen’s Morse and Stiles Colleges at New Haven; Cripps Building as an extension of St John’s College in Cambridge, by Powell & Moya; Maison d’Iran in Paris by Claude Parent & Heydar Ghiaï; the patio homes at Enschede’s Campus Drienerlo by Herman Haan; the small but special Svartlamoen project in Trondheim, by Geir Brendeland and Olav Kristoffersen; and the construction of a new building for Leiden University College in The Hague by Wiel Arets show the development of the student dwelling in all of its aspects, and on all scales.
Issue editors: Dick van Gameren, Paul Kuitenbrouwer, Harald Mooij
Editorial team: Frederique van Andel, Dirk van den Heuvel, Annenies Kraaij, Olv Klijn, Pierijn van der Putt
ISBN: 978-94-6208-122-2

No 10 (2014)
Housing the Student
Housing for young people, specifically aimed at students, is an extremely hot topic at the moment. Due to the growing influx of (international) students to Dutch universities, student housing has again become a large-scale job, and the supply of quality housing is important in the battle for students. In a stagnant housing market, developers and investors alike are flocking to this job en masse.
Constant themes in the design of student housing are temporality, modularity and transformation. A new development is the conversion of vacant buildings, originally intended for other programmes, into housing for students. DASH 10 describes the history and typological variety of student housing, and maps out the needs of a new generation of city dwellers in order to take a look ahead – along with architects, developers, and policymakers – to see what is needed today and what will be needed in the future.
Dick van Gameren contrasts the English college model with the model of the North American campus from the perspective of the city, while Paul Kuitenbrouwer explores the typology of the student room in terms of its historical development and its many variations. Harald Mooij reconstructs the Dutch job of building student housing after the Second World War, and illustrates the then-lively debate with several early projects. In a fascinating history of Madrid’s Residencia de Estudiantes and its simultaneous occupancy by Federico García Lorca, Salvador Dalí and Luis Buñuel, Sergio Martín Blas shows that student housing can do more than merely provide shelter. Interviews with Niek Verdonk and Marlies Rohmer about topics including youth housing in Groningen, and with André Snippe, who is developing existing office buildings into Campus Diemen Zuid, link theory to current practice.
The plan documentation for projects including Eero Saarinen’s Morse and Stiles Colleges at New Haven; Cripps Building as an extension of St John’s College in Cambridge, by Powell & Moya; Maison d’Iran in Paris by Claude Parent & Heydar Ghiaï; the patio homes at Enschede’s Campus Drienerlo by Herman Haan; the small but special Svartlamoen project in Trondheim, by Geir Brendeland and Olav Kristoffersen; and the construction of a new building for Leiden University College in The Hague by Wiel Arets show the development of the student dwelling in all of its aspects, and on all scales.
Issue editors: Dick van Gameren, Paul Kuitenbrouwer, Harald Mooij
Editorial team: Frederique van Andel, Dirk van den Heuvel, Annenies Kraaij, Olv Klijn, Pierijn van der Putt
ISBN: 978-94-6208-122-2
Editorial
-
Student housing is back on the agenda. At breathtaking speed, politicians, developers, architects and constructing parties are trying to reduce the serious shortage of residential space for young people and students that currently exists in almost all Dutch university towns. And in these times of malaise in the construction industry, new players are now also lining up to get a piece of the pie, alongside the traditional housing foundations and corporations.
The concept for this new architectural task is often simple: identical, independent units with their own mini-kitchen and minibathroom are the building blocks that are stacked and connected until the building envelope has been filled to the desired level. They feature a communal entrance, bicycle storage space, and perhaps a few facilities, and often a striking façade to assert a unique identity. This is an efficient industry that allows large numbers of units to be built well and quickly.
This architectural task is as topical as it is timeless. Ever since educational institutions began attracting young people from a wider environment, housing and education have gone hand in hand with a period of personal and intellectual growth. Through the centuries, various models have arisen for this purpose, in different countries and in different cultures: from students living with professors or in lodging houses, to the Anglo-Saxon college and campus, or the continental, urban residential buildings that were often under the auspices of religious institutions.
Student housing is back on the agenda. At breathtaking speed, politicians, developers, architects and constructing parties are trying to reduce the serious shortage of residential space for young people and students that currently exists in almost all Dutch university towns. And in these times of malaise in the construction industry, new players are now also lining up to get a piece of the pie, alongside the traditional housing foundations and corporations.
The concept for this new architectural task is often simple: identical, independent units with their own mini-kitchen and minibathroom are the building blocks that are stacked and connected until the building envelope has been filled to the desired level. They feature a communal entrance, bicycle storage space, and perhaps a few facilities, and often a striking façade to assert a unique identity. This is an efficient industry that allows large numbers of units to be built well and quickly.
This architectural...
Student housing is back on the agenda. At breathtaking speed, politicians, developers, architects and constructing parties are trying to reduce the serious shortage of residential space for young people and students that currently exists in almost all Dutch university towns. And in these times...
Dick van Gameren, Paul Kuitenbrouwer, Harald Mooij1-3
Articles
-
The student room has developed from a ‘cell’ (in cloisters, prisons, hospitals and hospices) into a fully equipped ‘hotel room’ with its own bathroom. This essay explores the development of the student room from the perspective of the personal space of the smallest living unit, based on a series of emblematic projects in Europe and the USA that have been realized over the past 100 years. What does the shell of the student’s personal space consist of? Is that personal space shared with a roommate? And how does the student relate socially to other students in the hallway, in the accommodation building, in the dorm? In typological terms, the spatial material of student housing is simply organized in the building plan as a series of cells, rooms or units along a corridor that connects them to each other. Usually the rooms are located on both sides of the corridor in order to optimize the organization of the geometrically arranged floor plan. The bulk of the residential programme is supplemented by larger, collective spaces that deviate from this pattern. This design can be traced back to the functional organization of the cloister.
The student room has developed from a ‘cell’ (in cloisters, prisons, hospitals and hospices) into a fully equipped ‘hotel room’ with its own bathroom. This essay explores the development of the student room from the perspective of the personal space of the smallest living unit, based on a series of emblematic projects in Europe and the USA that have been realized over the past 100 years. What does the shell of the student’s personal space consist of? Is that personal space shared with a roommate? And how does the student relate socially to other students in the hallway, in the accommodation building, in the dorm? In typological terms, the spatial material of student housing is simply organized in the building plan as a series of cells, rooms or units along a corridor that connects them to each other. Usually the rooms are located on both sides of the corridor in order to optimize the organization of the geometrically arranged floor plan. The bulk of the residential...
The student room has developed from a ‘cell’ (in cloisters, prisons, hospitals and hospices) into a fully equipped ‘hotel room’ with its own bathroom. This essay explores the development of the student room from the perspective of the personal space of the smallest living unit,...
Paul Kuitenbrouwer4-17 -
In the descriptions and names of many student housing projects that have been completed in the Netherlands over the past few years, the terms ‘college’ and ‘campus’ occur quite frequently. Examples include Campus Diemen-Zuid (on an industrial estate in Diemen), the Anna van Buren University College Leiden (sandwiched between Central Station in The Hague and the Royal Library), and the Amsterdam University College Campus (part of the Science Park campus in Amsterdam). The word ‘campus’ is no longer confined to the academic world. It seems as if every group of buildings that is used for a specific purpose is called a campus, varying from a single building to the entire city: the University of Amsterdam’s motto is ‘the City is our Campus’. And does ‘college’ stand for a form of housing, an educational building, or a combination of the two?
The concepts of campus and college seem to be used indiscriminately when it comes to student housing, rendering these terms meaningless. What distinguishes these two ideas? Do they represent a specific spatial model, a way that buildings and student residences are involved in the university and the city? By tracing the origins and developments of the college and the campus, we can examine whether these concepts still have any meaning for the commissioned student housing projects that are currently underway.
In the descriptions and names of many student housing projects that have been completed in the Netherlands over the past few years, the terms ‘college’ and ‘campus’ occur quite frequently. Examples include Campus Diemen-Zuid (on an industrial estate in Diemen), the Anna van Buren University College Leiden (sandwiched between Central Station in The Hague and the Royal Library), and the Amsterdam University College Campus (part of the Science Park campus in Amsterdam). The word ‘campus’ is no longer confined to the academic world. It seems as if every group of buildings that is used for a specific purpose is called a campus, varying from a single building to the entire city: the University of Amsterdam’s motto is ‘the City is our Campus’. And does ‘college’ stand for a form of housing, an educational building, or a combination of the two?
The concepts of campus and college seem to be used indiscriminately when it comes to student housing, rendering...
In the descriptions and names of many student housing projects that have been completed in the Netherlands over the past few years, the terms ‘college’ and ‘campus’ occur quite frequently. Examples include Campus Diemen-Zuid (on an industrial estate in Diemen), the Anna van Buren...
Dick van Gameren18-39 -
Despite the economic crisis, the past few years have seen a surprising increase in the construction of new student housing in the Netherlands. This has been prompted, first and foremost, by demand from the National Campaign for Student Housing, which wants to realize 16,000 new living units for students in the period 2011-2016.1 And as a result of the ongoing internationalization of higher education, universities are competing to attract the best students and researchers with high-quality facilities and attractive housing. Finally, the crisis has stopped construction work in many other areas, so that even parties that were not previously involved are now turning towards the still lucrative market for student housing.
The completed developments look nice on the outside, with attention to material and detail – a huge departure from the often grey, concrete hulks built to combat the student housing shortage in the 1970s. The material luxury inside is equally conspicuous: instead of simple bedrooms with shared facilities, most of the units are independently equipped with individual kitchens, bathrooms and toilets. This ties in with the internationalization, with demand (and a corresponding budget) for independent and often furnished units. That these are also within most Dutch student budgets is facilitated by the system of housing allowance that subsidizes independent, but not shared accommodation. In short: by building more expensive accommodation more money can be made while students get more ‘luxury’.
Despite the economic crisis, the past few years have seen a surprising increase in the construction of new student housing in the Netherlands. This has been prompted, first and foremost, by demand from the National Campaign for Student Housing, which wants to realize 16,000 new living units for students in the period 2011-2016.1 And as a result of the ongoing internationalization of higher education, universities are competing to attract the best students and researchers with high-quality facilities and attractive housing. Finally, the crisis has stopped construction work in many other areas, so that even parties that were not previously involved are now turning towards the still lucrative market for student housing.
The completed developments look nice on the outside, with attention to material and detail – a huge departure from the often grey, concrete hulks built to combat the student housing shortage in the 1970s. The material luxury inside is equally conspicuous:...
Despite the economic crisis, the past few years have seen a surprising increase in the construction of new student housing in the Netherlands. This has been prompted, first and foremost, by demand from the National Campaign for Student Housing, which wants to realize 16,000 new living units...
Harald Mooij52-67 -
It’s no surprise that Corbu would emphatically praise the monastic virtues – those associated with the well-known English college model – of a student residence such as the one built in Madrid between 1913 and 1918. Not for nothing had the committed first director of the Residencia, Alberto Jiménez Fraud, visited England in order to study the tutorial model between 1907 and 1909, and one of its tutors, Alfonso Reyes, would refer to the new complex as ‘Oxford and Cambridge in Madrid’. But appearances, as well as declarations, may in this case be deceiving. Planned by architect Antonio Flórez Urdapilleta and later completed by Francisco Javier de Luque, the Residencia de Estudiantes, if undoubtedly sharing grounds with the concept of the English college, also embodied a larger number of features in frank opposition to the latter.
First and foremost, its pedagogical approach: the Institución Libre de Enseñanza (Free Institute of Education; ILE), which inspired the project, considered direct and personal experience of real life as the main source of knowledge, and architectural enclosure as a temporary and secondary stage in the learning process. One of the programmatic texts of the ILE made it clear, asserting that the pedagogical function of closed rooms ‘is analogous to the cabinet of the astronomer or engineer, archaeologist, historian, architect or politician: most of the data are not gathered inside these places, but outdoors, in the museum, in front of the monument, in society, in the archives . . . to sum up, in the midst of the open, varied and inexhaustible reality . . . Life is the first school, and the institution that bears such a high name should, within its limitations, get as close as possible to it’.
It’s no surprise that Corbu would emphatically praise the monastic virtues – those associated with the well-known English college model – of a student residence such as the one built in Madrid between 1913 and 1918. Not for nothing had the committed first director of the Residencia, Alberto Jiménez Fraud, visited England in order to study the tutorial model between 1907 and 1909, and one of its tutors, Alfonso Reyes, would refer to the new complex as ‘Oxford and Cambridge in Madrid’. But appearances, as well as declarations, may in this case be deceiving. Planned by architect Antonio Flórez Urdapilleta and later completed by Francisco Javier de Luque, the Residencia de Estudiantes, if undoubtedly sharing grounds with the concept of the English college, also embodied a larger number of features in frank opposition to the latter.
First and foremost, its pedagogical approach: the Institución Libre de Enseñanza (Free Institute of Education; ILE), which inspired...
It’s no surprise that Corbu would emphatically praise the monastic virtues – those associated with the well-known English college model – of a student residence such as the one built in Madrid between 1913 and 1918. Not for nothing had the committed first director of the Residencia,...
Sergio Martín Blas68-81
Interviews
-
A number of cities in the Netherlands are struggling with a shortage of housing for students. As a result, student housing is one of the few residential building assignments still being taken on in the present economic climate. This is also the case with Groningen, where in 2010 an ambitious programme was started for the development of 4,500 student units by the year 2015. Called bouwjong!, the programme has been underway for some years now and it offers insight into the possibilities and impossibilities of carrying out such an assignment at the present juncture. In a compilation of two separate interviews, one with Groningen City Architect Niek Verdonk, initiator of bouwjong!, and one with architect Marlies Rohmer, who is both a curator and an inspirational guide for the project, Verdonk and Rohmer shed light on the strong points of the assignment, the importance of young people’s housing for the city and the effect that the present crisis has on the issue of housing for young people.
A number of cities in the Netherlands are struggling with a shortage of housing for students. As a result, student housing is one of the few residential building assignments still being taken on in the present economic climate. This is also the case with Groningen, where in 2010 an ambitious programme was started for the development of 4,500 student units by the year 2015. Called bouwjong!, the programme has been underway for some years now and it offers insight into the possibilities and impossibilities of carrying out such an assignment at the present juncture. In a compilation of two separate interviews, one with Groningen City Architect Niek Verdonk, initiator of bouwjong!, and one with architect Marlies Rohmer, who is both a curator and an inspirational guide for the project, Verdonk and Rohmer shed light on the strong points of the assignment, the importance of young people’s housing for the city and the effect that the present crisis has on the issue of housing for young...
A number of cities in the Netherlands are struggling with a shortage of housing for students. As a result, student housing is one of the few residential building assignments still being taken on in the present economic climate. This is also the case with Groningen, where in 2010 an ambitious...
Pierijn van der Putt40-45 -
Before 2011, anyone walking from the Diemen-Zuid station into the Bergwijkpark district, just outside the ring road in the south-eastern section of the greater metropolis area of Amsterdam, could clearly see the impact of the economic crisis: office buildings no older than 10 to 40 years that were over 45 per cent vacant, drearily surrounded by barriers and empty parking lots. In September 2013, Campus Diemen Zuid opened here, a student campus in American fashion with 936 apartments and facilities of its own, the success of which is already having a positive influence on the rest of the district. Its initiator is André Snippe, whose office is a stone’s throw away. As we speak, some 500 students are already living here on campus and new facilities are being completed every week.
Before 2011, anyone walking from the Diemen-Zuid station into the Bergwijkpark district, just outside the ring road in the south-eastern section of the greater metropolis area of Amsterdam, could clearly see the impact of the economic crisis: office buildings no older than 10 to 40 years that were over 45 per cent vacant, drearily surrounded by barriers and empty parking lots. In September 2013, Campus Diemen Zuid opened here, a student campus in American fashion with 936 apartments and facilities of its own, the success of which is already having a positive influence on the rest of the district. Its initiator is André Snippe, whose office is a stone’s throw away. As we speak, some 500 students are already living here on campus and new facilities are being completed every week.
Before 2011, anyone walking from the Diemen-Zuid station into the Bergwijkpark district, just outside the ring road in the south-eastern section of the greater metropolis area of Amsterdam, could clearly see the impact of the economic crisis: office buildings no older than 10 to 40 years that...
Harald Mooij46-51
Case Studies
-
The plan documentation for this tenth edition of DASH includes ten examples of student housing projects that have actually been built. Spread across Europe and North America, the projects give a panoramic overview of models for student housing that have been developed over the past 500 years. The architecture of the student dwelling has a rich and dynamic history, and the selection shows a number of projects that illustrate the most important traditions and innovations.
The plan documentation for this tenth edition of DASH includes ten examples of student housing projects that have actually been built. Spread across Europe and North America, the projects give a panoramic overview of models for student housing that have been developed over the past 500 years. The architecture of the student dwelling has a rich and dynamic history, and the selection shows a number of projects that illustrate the most important traditions and innovations.
The plan documentation for this tenth edition of DASH includes ten examples of student housing projects that have actually been built. Spread across Europe and North America, the projects give a panoramic overview of models for student housing that have been developed over the past 500 years....
Dick van Gameren, Paul Kuitenbrouwer, Harald Mooij, Annenies Kraaij82-85 -
St John’s College is one of the largest colleges in Cambridge. Founded in 1511 by the mother of Henry VII, the original layout was extended further and further over the course of five centuries until it ultimately became a complex entity of buildings and courts. The compound as a whole provides illustrative insight into the development of the colleges in Cambridge.
The first court was built in the first quarter of the sixteenth century, and follows the college model developed in the previous centuries. The colleges, which were generally founded by high-ranking clergy or members of aristocratic families, initially provided accommodation for teachers attached to the university, and later for the students as well. They were collective residential buildings with private living quarters and communal spaces such as a hall with kitchens and servants’ quarters, a chapel and a library. The type displayed considerable affinity with the layout of monasteries and unfortified manors, which had also been developed in the Middle Ages.
In the first 150 years of its existence, St John’s was extended twice with a new court, each time added behind the one already present. As a result, the college stretched out from a main route that ran parallel to the River Cam down to the Cam itself. In spite of the different periods in which the three courts were built, they display significant similarities of style and materials (the brickwork characteristic of Cambridge).
St John’s College is one of the largest colleges in Cambridge. Founded in 1511 by the mother of Henry VII, the original layout was extended further and further over the course of five centuries until it ultimately became a complex entity of buildings and courts. The compound as a whole provides illustrative insight into the development of the colleges in Cambridge.
The first court was built in the first quarter of the sixteenth century, and follows the college model developed in the previous centuries. The colleges, which were generally founded by high-ranking clergy or members of aristocratic families, initially provided accommodation for teachers attached to the university, and later for the students as well. They were collective residential buildings with private living quarters and communal spaces such as a hall with kitchens and servants’ quarters, a chapel and a library. The type displayed considerable affinity with the layout of monasteries and unfortified...
St John’s College is one of the largest colleges in Cambridge. Founded in 1511 by the mother of Henry VII, the original layout was extended further and further over the course of five centuries until it ultimately became a complex entity of buildings and courts. The compound as a whole...
Dick van Gameren86-91 -
The Residencia de Estudiantes is a milestone in the history of modern Spanish culture, not only because of its prominent residents and guest lecturers (Einstein and Keynes, Le Corbusier and Gropius among many others), but also because of its architecture, designed by Antonio Flórez Urdapilleta.
The project was deeply influenced by the Institución Libre de Enseñanza (Free Institute for Education), a pedagogical mission based on nineteenth-century liberalism and laicism. Flórez himself had been educated by the Institute, and translated its ideals of freedom, openness, health and austerity into architectural forms. Furthermore, Flórez’s Residencia anticipated the ambiguous reception of international modernity in Madrid, its influence and continuity to the present, defined by a ‘realist’ approach and the rational rework of traditional techniques like brick masonry.
The Residencia de Estudiantes is a milestone in the history of modern Spanish culture, not only because of its prominent residents and guest lecturers (Einstein and Keynes, Le Corbusier and Gropius among many others), but also because of its architecture, designed by Antonio Flórez Urdapilleta.
The project was deeply influenced by the Institución Libre de Enseñanza (Free Institute for Education), a pedagogical mission based on nineteenth-century liberalism and laicism. Flórez himself had been educated by the Institute, and translated its ideals of freedom, openness, health and austerity into architectural forms. Furthermore, Flórez’s Residencia anticipated the ambiguous reception of international modernity in Madrid, its influence and continuity to the present, defined by a ‘realist’ approach and the rational rework of traditional techniques like brick masonry.
The Residencia de Estudiantes is a milestone in the history of modern Spanish culture, not only because of its prominent residents and guest lecturers (Einstein and Keynes, Le Corbusier and Gropius among many others), but also because of its architecture, designed by Antonio Flórez...
Sergio Martín Blas92-99 -
In 1921, the French Minister of Education André Honorat launched the initiative for an ‘international city’ for students, in the green band around the old city ramparts of Paris. Good housing for a growing student population also served the more ideological goal of preventing new wars through international cooperation. France made the land available free of cost, and participating countries could build a fondation in line with their own ideas and budget, to be transferred on delivery to the Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris.
The Netherlands was keen to be represented in this international arena and seized the opportunity to establish, in addition to residential accommodation for Dutch students, a centre for Dutch and Netherlands East Indies studies, with an active cultural programme. The Collège néerlandais was intended to reflect the image of a self-assured and modern country with a role to play on the world stage. The choice fell on Willem Marinus Dudok as the architect to give shape to these ambitions; he had made an international name for himself with his recently published design for the Town Hall in Hilversum.
In 1921, the French Minister of Education André Honorat launched the initiative for an ‘international city’ for students, in the green band around the old city ramparts of Paris. Good housing for a growing student population also served the more ideological goal of preventing new wars through international cooperation. France made the land available free of cost, and participating countries could build a fondation in line with their own ideas and budget, to be transferred on delivery to the Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris.
The Netherlands was keen to be represented in this international arena and seized the opportunity to establish, in addition to residential accommodation for Dutch students, a centre for Dutch and Netherlands East Indies studies, with an active cultural programme. The Collège néerlandais was intended to reflect the image of a self-assured and modern country with a role to play on the world stage. The choice fell on Willem Marinus Dudok...
In 1921, the French Minister of Education André Honorat launched the initiative for an ‘international city’ for students, in the green band around the old city ramparts of Paris. Good housing for a growing student population also served the more ideological goal of preventing new wars...
Harald Mooij100-107 -
When Yale University in New Haven decided to increase the number of student rooms in the late 1950s, a discussion ensued about whether this should be realized in the form of ‘colleges’, residential communities with shared facilities, or ‘dormitories’, hostel buildings without facilities. Because Yale was primarily seen as a college university, similar to Oxford and Cambridge, and not as a campus university, the decision was taken to build two colleges. The colleges ware named after two illustrious Yale alumni. The design commission was awarded to Eero Saarinen, who had already made several plans for university and commercial campuses, all of them with a strict, modernist orthogonal arrangement.
The assignment to realize colleges was the pretext for Saarinen to create a plan that took as its starting point maximum expression of the residents’ individuality within a collective, small-scale entity. He translated this into building forms where repetition and regularity seemed to have disappeared completely.
When Yale University in New Haven decided to increase the number of student rooms in the late 1950s, a discussion ensued about whether this should be realized in the form of ‘colleges’, residential communities with shared facilities, or ‘dormitories’, hostel buildings without facilities. Because Yale was primarily seen as a college university, similar to Oxford and Cambridge, and not as a campus university, the decision was taken to build two colleges. The colleges ware named after two illustrious Yale alumni. The design commission was awarded to Eero Saarinen, who had already made several plans for university and commercial campuses, all of them with a strict, modernist orthogonal arrangement.
The assignment to realize colleges was the pretext for Saarinen to create a plan that took as its starting point maximum expression of the residents’ individuality within a collective, small-scale entity. He translated this into building forms where repetition and...
When Yale University in New Haven decided to increase the number of student rooms in the late 1950s, a discussion ensued about whether this should be realized in the form of ‘colleges’, residential communities with shared facilities, or ‘dormitories’, hostel buildings without...
Dick van Gameren108-115 -
In 1964, the new University of Twente campus (at that time still the Institute of Technology) was opened. It is the only university in the Netherlands that offers on-campus housing for students, in this case on its wooded terrain. After supervisor Willem van Tijen built the first series of student accommodations himself, he asked Herman Haan to design the second progression. Although Haan had not designed residences in serial production before, he was involved with Team 10 and – despite being older – felt an affinity with younger structuralists such as Joop van Stigt and Piet Blom, who had also been given assignments on the campus.
Haan’s first student housing complex consists of 17 linked square units, each composed of residential cells and communal facilities grouped in an L-shape on two sides of a small patio. A centrally located larger patio functions as a semi-public square. At several places, single-occupancy units on two floors were realized. The patios situated in the middle of the complex cannot be reached from the outside, but are accessed from small entrances that are linked by means of a partly covered pedestrian/cycling street over the roof of the complex. These entrance structures are connected to double ‘warden’ rooms on the roof. Each patio unit includes two clusters of three rooms with a shared shower and toilet, a double-occupancy unit and a communal breakfast room.
In 1964, the new University of Twente campus (at that time still the Institute of Technology) was opened. It is the only university in the Netherlands that offers on-campus housing for students, in this case on its wooded terrain. After supervisor Willem van Tijen built the first series of student accommodations himself, he asked Herman Haan to design the second progression. Although Haan had not designed residences in serial production before, he was involved with Team 10 and – despite being older – felt an affinity with younger structuralists such as Joop van Stigt and Piet Blom, who had also been given assignments on the campus.
Haan’s first student housing complex consists of 17 linked square units, each composed of residential cells and communal facilities grouped in an L-shape on two sides of a small patio. A centrally located larger patio functions as a semi-public square. At several places, single-occupancy units on two floors were realized. The patios...
In 1964, the new University of Twente campus (at that time still the Institute of Technology) was opened. It is the only university in the Netherlands that offers on-campus housing for students, in this case on its wooded terrain. After supervisor Willem van Tijen built the first series of...
Piet Vollaard116-123 -
In the first half of the 1950s, editor J.M. Richards voiced biting criticism in the Architectural Review of new-built projects for the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. The buildings made no contribution to the art of architecture whatsoever and merely reflected the artistic emptiness and small-mindedness of academic taste. In the late 1950s, the tide turned. Up until the 1970s, several projects were implemented in both cities, which interpreted and breathed new life into the traditional building forms and application of materials in the two cities, sometimes in a brilliant fashion. Included in the best work from this period are the extensions to a number of colleges from designs by Philip Powell and Hidalgo Moya.
After realizing a number of projects in Oxford, they were commissioned in 1962 to design a large extension of St John’s College in Cambridge. Alvar Aalto, who was initially approached, turned out to be insufficiently interested. The project was financed by an alumnus of St John’s, wealthy industrialist Humphrey Cripps. In return for his generous donation, he yearned for a building that would last for at least 500 years. The new-build, located behind the existing buildings of St John’s, had to contain 200 rooms for undergraduates and 8 apartments for fellows.
In the first half of the 1950s, editor J.M. Richards voiced biting criticism in the Architectural Review of new-built projects for the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. The buildings made no contribution to the art of architecture whatsoever and merely reflected the artistic emptiness and small-mindedness of academic taste. In the late 1950s, the tide turned. Up until the 1970s, several projects were implemented in both cities, which interpreted and breathed new life into the traditional building forms and application of materials in the two cities, sometimes in a brilliant fashion. Included in the best work from this period are the extensions to a number of colleges from designs by Philip Powell and Hidalgo Moya.
After realizing a number of projects in Oxford, they were commissioned in 1962 to design a large extension of St John’s College in Cambridge. Alvar Aalto, who was initially approached, turned out to be insufficiently interested. The project was financed by...
In the first half of the 1950s, editor J.M. Richards voiced biting criticism in the Architectural Review of new-built projects for the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. The buildings made no contribution to the art of architecture whatsoever and merely reflected the artistic emptiness and...
Dick van Gameren116-123 -
Maison de l’Iran was the last student residence to be built within the park-like setting of the Cité Internationale Universitaire in Paris, where various countries constructed pavilions between 1925 and 1968 to accommodate their own students. The most well-known pavilions are those from Switzerland and Brazil (both by Le Corbusier) and the Netherlands (Dudok). In the early 1960s, when the design by the original architects of the Maison de l’Iran, Moshen Foroughi and Heydar Ghiaï-Chamlou, was not approved by the city council, the architects turned to André Bloc, the influential founder of the magazine l’Architecture d’Aujourd’hui, for help. Bloc put them in contact with Claude Parent, who at that time was busy realizing a villa for him in Cape d’Antibes. Parent seized this opportunity to realize a prestigious project in Paris with both hands. In turn, Parent’s design only managed to overcome the bureaucratic hurdles after the Shah of Iran announced that he wished to be present at the start of construction during his state visit in 1966. After delivery in 1969, Maison de l’Iran quickly became a stronghold of resistance to the Iranian regime, which subsequently withdrew: in 1972 the Fondation Avicenne was housed here, a foundation that also facilitates researchers and students of other nationalities.
Maison de l’Iran was the last student residence to be built within the park-like setting of the Cité Internationale Universitaire in Paris, where various countries constructed pavilions between 1925 and 1968 to accommodate their own students. The most well-known pavilions are those from Switzerland and Brazil (both by Le Corbusier) and the Netherlands (Dudok). In the early 1960s, when the design by the original architects of the Maison de l’Iran, Moshen Foroughi and Heydar Ghiaï-Chamlou, was not approved by the city council, the architects turned to André Bloc, the influential founder of the magazine l’Architecture d’Aujourd’hui, for help. Bloc put them in contact with Claude Parent, who at that time was busy realizing a villa for him in Cape d’Antibes. Parent seized this opportunity to realize a prestigious project in Paris with both hands. In turn, Parent’s design only managed to overcome the bureaucratic hurdles after the Shah of Iran announced that he wished...
Maison de l’Iran was the last student residence to be built within the park-like setting of the Cité Internationale Universitaire in Paris, where various countries constructed pavilions between 1925 and 1968 to accommodate their own students. The most well-known pavilions are those from...
Jurjen Zeinstra132-139 -
Student days, Granpré Molière contended in his first Nijmegen urban design in 1949, represent a vulnerable transitional phase between one’s family and the whole of society. At Hoogeveldt, architect Piet Tauber wanted to prevent students from being swallowed up in a nameless crowd. In spite of the large number of rooms (1,024), Hoogeveldt distinguishes itself from other student residences by its human scale. The ensemble was built adjacent to the Dominican ‘Albertinum’ priory (H.J.A. Bijlard and K. van Geyn [Eduard Cuypers office], 1930-1932) and is bordered by the recessed tracks of the Nijmegen-Venlo railroad and Heyendaalseweg, which connects the Heyendaal university campus with the city centre. When the friars went in search of an architect who would represent their interests in the urban design changes the city council wanted to implement around their estate, Piet Tauber was, as he himself put it, ‘deliberating with the prior-provincial a few days later’.
Student days, Granpré Molière contended in his first Nijmegen urban design in 1949, represent a vulnerable transitional phase between one’s family and the whole of society. At Hoogeveldt, architect Piet Tauber wanted to prevent students from being swallowed up in a nameless crowd. In spite of the large number of rooms (1,024), Hoogeveldt distinguishes itself from other student residences by its human scale. The ensemble was built adjacent to the Dominican ‘Albertinum’ priory (H.J.A. Bijlard and K. van Geyn [Eduard Cuypers office], 1930-1932) and is bordered by the recessed tracks of the Nijmegen-Venlo railroad and Heyendaalseweg, which connects the Heyendaal university campus with the city centre. When the friars went in search of an architect who would represent their interests in the urban design changes the city council wanted to implement around their estate, Piet Tauber was, as he himself put it, ‘deliberating with the prior-provincial a few days later’.
Student days, Granpré Molière contended in his first Nijmegen urban design in 1949, represent a vulnerable transitional phase between one’s family and the whole of society. At Hoogeveldt, architect Piet Tauber wanted to prevent students from being swallowed up in a nameless crowd. In spite...
Paul Kuitenbrouwer140-147 -
The residential complex for young people in Svartlamoen lies on the intersection between what was until recently a run-down city district and a large-scale industrial area in Trondheim. Here Geir Brendeland and Olav Kristoffersen realized their first building in 2005 – at that moment the largest in the world made of massivtre (solid wood) – as the result of an open competition held in 2003. Their motto was: ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!’ This project for individual young people but also groups made a statement about Norwegian housing policy, which was entirely market-driven and did not pay enough attention to people of all ages with a low income.
In this project, resident participation, sustainable architecture, freely adaptable space and the innovative use of timber as building material all play a central role.
The residential complex for young people in Svartlamoen lies on the intersection between what was until recently a run-down city district and a large-scale industrial area in Trondheim. Here Geir Brendeland and Olav Kristoffersen realized their first building in 2005 – at that moment the largest in the world made of massivtre (solid wood) – as the result of an open competition held in 2003. Their motto was: ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!’ This project for individual young people but also groups made a statement about Norwegian housing policy, which was entirely market-driven and did not pay enough attention to people of all ages with a low income.
In this project, resident participation, sustainable architecture, freely adaptable space and the innovative use of timber as building material all play a central role.
The residential complex for young people in Svartlamoen lies on the intersection between what was until recently a run-down city district and a large-scale industrial area in Trondheim. Here Geir Brendeland and Olav Kristoffersen realized their first building in 2005 – at that moment the...
Paul Kuitenbrouwer148-155 -
The AvB Tower provides a combination of studying, living and social activities in a single hybrid university residential building, centrally situated at an infrastructure hub directly adjacent to the renovated The Hague Central Station. The architect warrants that ‘a flood of visual contact from within the steel tower out onto the adjacent square will ensure that the tower’s residents are provided a truly urban university living experience . . . thus providing views to the square, the skyline of The Hague, and the North Sea beyond’. The threeyear English-language Liberal Arts & Sciences Bachelor’s degree course in the curriculum of Leiden University College The Hague is established here; it prepares Dutch and international students for prominent positions with international organizations. Following this course of study means studying and living under one roof. In addition to tuition fees, the student also pays for a 27-m2 guest room with its own kitchen unit and bathing facility, where he or she can stay for a maximum of two years, linked to their enrolment at LUC.
The AvB Tower provides a combination of studying, living and social activities in a single hybrid university residential building, centrally situated at an infrastructure hub directly adjacent to the renovated The Hague Central Station. The architect warrants that ‘a flood of visual contact from within the steel tower out onto the adjacent square will ensure that the tower’s residents are provided a truly urban university living experience . . . thus providing views to the square, the skyline of The Hague, and the North Sea beyond’. The threeyear English-language Liberal Arts & Sciences Bachelor’s degree course in the curriculum of Leiden University College The Hague is established here; it prepares Dutch and international students for prominent positions with international organizations. Following this course of study means studying and living under one roof. In addition to tuition fees, the student also pays for a 27-m2 guest room with its own kitchen unit and...
The AvB Tower provides a combination of studying, living and social activities in a single hybrid university residential building, centrally situated at an infrastructure hub directly adjacent to the renovated The Hague Central Station. The architect warrants that ‘a flood of visual contact...
Paul Kuitenbrouwer156-163