Delft as a laboratory for BK bachelor students
On Tuesday 30 January, five Architecture students (TU Delft) presented hypothetical plans for the redevelopment of three Delft locations. Delft alderman Frank van Vliet (Climate, Culture and Public Space) and city master planner Tako Postma gave their reactions to the plans.
Bachelor students at the faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment learn during their second year to design on an urban scale; from street to city. The assignment is to make a spatial plan for a neighbourhood. Students choose from three locations in Delft, namely the neighbourhoods near the Maria Duystlaan, the Buitenwatersloot or the Meeslaan.
The fact that the students are working on a plan for a neighbourhood in Delft is no coincidence. The municipality of Delft and TU Delft are teaming up and working together to create an attractive and dynamic city. This undergraduate design project is a good example. In addition, course coordinators Els Bet and Teake Bouma appreciate having a design location close by. The students can visit and analyse the location more frequently.
Students choose one of five launching points at the start of the course: urban morphology, landscape architecture, environmental technology, computational design or cultural history. At the final symposium on 30 January, a selection of plans was presented. The plans are not meant for immediate implementation, but together they provide a range of inspiring ideas. And both alderman Frank van Vliet and city master planner Tako Postma enjoyed looking at and experiencing the plans.
The plan by Jannah Leeuwangh (computational design), for Meeslaan and its surroundings, was quite the experience. Wearing VR glasses made the plan come to life. The plans by Derk van Buchem (urban morphology) for Maria Duystlaan, by Mees van Wetten (landscape architecture) and Jorik Bokelman (environmental technology) for Buitenwatersloot and by Micah van den Berkhof (cultural history) for Meeslaan also received praise and stimulating questions.
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The banner image of this article is an impression of Jannah Leeuwangh's plan for the Meeslaan.