Almost by definition, people are influenced by their study and work environment, and, vice versa, a building only starts to live as an environment when it is used. In the case of an architecture faculty building, this effect is probably even stronger. After all, this is where the students are introduced to the profession, where they acquire a passion for architecture and learn to put it to use. The building can serve as a familiar point of reference for many aspects of the profession, and at the same time it can be scrutinised and questioned: the building becomes a subject of study, debate and criticism.

Although the old faculty building was by no means universally acclaimed as a shining example of fine architecture, it was part of many people’s academic and professional life – not just as a structure, but almost as a personality. Bouwkunde – the official Dutch name of the Faculty of Architecture – acquired a far more immediate meaning. Bouwkunde was that particular location in Delft, with the large hall where everyone kept running into one another, the place where one spoke with colleagues or (fellow) students, where one attended lectures by well-known architects in packed lecture-halls, the setting for the Bouwkunde party, the place where people stood in line for the canteen and where, tired but proud, students presented their project after nights of drawing. Bouwkunde stood for a degree programme, a social setting and a presence in its own right. In Dutch, bouw can refer to both the activity of building and the physically constructed object. Kunde refers to craft, but also has connections with knowledge and art. Bouwkunde, in other words, describes a creative process, the balancing of workmanship and art, construction and appearance.