Otakar Maçel 
Associate Professor TU Delft, Faculty of Architecture, Chair of History of Architecture and Urbanism

The origin of the present faculty goes back over 150 years. In 1842 the Koninklijke Academie ter opleiding van burgerlijke ingenieurs [Royal Academy for the training of civilian engineers] was founded to produce specialists for public works, trade and industry. This was also the training base for colonial officers. Training civilian engineers contrasted with training military engineers, which already took place at the Military Academy in Breda (1826). The three-year architecture course formed a small part of the entire programme and largely coincided with the civil and hydraulic engineering study programme. The exact number of students in the architecture course is not known, but there were not many. This can be inferred from the Academy’s modest accommodation in four buildings by the canal in the centre of Delft. The subject was taught by a single tutor; a second tutor was only appointed in 1861.

On the passing of a new Act, in 1863 the Academy became the Polytechnic School and a year later a new programme was launched. The five disciplines were aimed at training students to become civil, architectural, mechanical, marine, and mining engineers. In the first two years, the architectural studies were largely identical to the civil engineering programme, including the con-struction classes. After that, the real studies started, focusing on ‘fine architecture’, taught from the start until 1902 by German Professor Eugen Gugel. The subject included the design and detailing in wood and stone of dwellings in particular, but also stations and locomotive hangars. Architectural history was also taught as useful knowledge for designing “buildings intended for our modern era in the spirit of historic styles.” The study of ornaments was also associated with history as an important component of restorative architecture. In addition, students could study drawing by hand and moulding.

Architectural studies remained strongly linked with civil engineering and during the initial years continued to be dominated by mathematics and physics. This led to constant criticism and declining student numbers, as architectural training was available elsewhere too. Between 1880 and 1900, only 30 diplomas were awarded. The continued criticism resulted in the study programme becoming independent from the first year onwards in 1901 and growing numbers of students.

In 1905, the Polytechnic school became the Technical College (TH) and the architectural study programme was incorporated in one of the five faculties (then departments) of the new TH. With the new start, there were also plans for new accommodation for the faculties. The central library and one faculty benefited from this, but plans for a new building by architect C. Bremer for Archi-tecture were only completed in 1920. The new building would be situated to the west of the old centre. The number of Architecture students had tripled compared with 1905, from 32 to 105. An interesting part of this plan was the positioning of the classrooms. These were no longer placed in the separate departments of each professor, but grouped on every floor with lecture halls in one wing and drawing rooms in another. However, just one year later, it became apparent that the government did not have the necessary financial resources and everything remained the same. Various proposals were made for the renovation of other buildings, but it was only in 1933 that the faculty moved to a refurbished old building in the city centre, Oude Delft 39a. The faculty remained here until its move to the TU campus in 1970. The layout in the refurbished house continued to be determined by the whereabouts of the individual professors, around whom the classrooms were grouped. Until the war, the number of students remained between 100 and 130.

Compared with the start of the new faculty in 1905, the programme was expanded and the number of professors increased. Design courses were given in the classroom with individual guidance. From 1926, a ‘comprehensive’ course in urban planning was taught by Professor Granpré Molière. The charismatic personality of Granpré Molière was very important for the school. After his conversion to Catholicism in 1927, he developed a theory of design based on Thomist theology, which was to dominate the programme. He supported tradition-based architecture and rejected both the avant-garde and eclectic historism. The movement is known as the Delft School. Another name from this period will also be mentioned – H. Rosse, who came to Delft from New York in 1933 to become professor of decorative (interior) art. He was the only member of staff ever to win an Oscar - not for acting or directing, but for his film poster designs.

In 1940, the faculty building provided a temporary refuge for the victims of the bombing of Rot-terdam and at the end of 1942, the building was claimed by the ‘Organisation Todt’. Initially, the number of students grew, but then declined significantly in 1943 due to the obligatory loyalty declaration. After the war, three things played a role in the development of the faculty: the con-tinued rise in student numbers, the effect of inadequate housing and the expansion and changes in education.

The growth in student numbers - in 1948-49 there were 331 students and twenty years later there were 1410 - soon resulted in new plans for the accommodation and temporary solutions in existing buildings. In the context of the general plans for a new TH site on the southern outskirts of Delft, a building for the architecture department was already considered back in 1950. However, it was not until 1956 that a competition was organised for this purpose. It was won by Professor Van den Broek, but the Van den Broek & Bakema agency only received the commission in 1962. The new building was completed in 1970, 14 years after the competition. It was originally designed for 700 students but the number was soon adjusted to 850. At the time of its opening in 1970, there were already 1735 students, which again resulted in adjustments to the building.

Education changed too. The appointments of new professors like Bakema, Van den Broek and Van Eesteren led to a partial shift from the Delft School theory to a more pragmatic-functionalist philosophy and in 1970 structuralism appeared (Van Eyck, Hertzberger). Urban planning education was expanded; the disciplines of utility building and later public housing and restoration were added. Modelling became a design study based on the Bauhaus philosophy. Already in 1947 a professor in architectural history was appointed, allowing this subject to be taught separately from design trends. Because of the rising number of students, the structure of the programme became increasingly important and the position of the chairs more subordinate. There was also a move from individual design instruction to studio sessions in groups. The democratisation process of the 1970s brought many administrative and educational freedoms and problems, which were later gradually reversed.

Despite the criticism on the now fire-ravaged building – the first independent accommodation of the faculty – it functioned well, particularly the ground floor and the first floor, which were designed as a public area, a street, and worked well as such. Problems related to the studio areas, lecture halls and the accommodation for the growing staff, which were inadequate. Also just before the fire, there were plans to expand the faculty outside the existing building. A new design for the faculty can never resolve all future problems, but they can be anticipated. An appropriate design for a modern and internationally oriented faculty: that is what Architecture in Delft is today.