Editor’s Note: This listing was updated on October 26, 2022
OVERVIEW
Often ranked second in architectural education (behind MIT), TU Delft offers its renowned Architecture, Urbanism and Building Sciences program at the Bachelor’s (only in Dutch), Master’s and PhD levels. In 2022, the university also inaugurated a new campus structure sure to become a draw in its own right. The energy-generating Echo building was designed by UNStudio and engineered by Arup to be used by all faculties, which means it was created with flexibility and wellness for all in mind; the edifice is also part of the university’s aim of becoming carbon neutral by 2030.
As for academia, the Master’s programme boasts five tracks, where students specialize in a particular area – Architecture, Building Technology, Landscape Architecture, Management in the Built Environment or Urbanism – and studios are taught by academics and practitioners from leading Dutch architectural firms. Students can then pursue a doctorate in any number of subjects, from architecture and building to landscape architecture and housing – “covering aspects such as history, cultural heritage, and sustainability.”
TU Delft’s plan to retrofit Dutch tenement flats with solar panels placed third in the 2022 Solar Decathlon. Image top of page: UNStudio’s Echo building on campus.
Students have competed on the international stage: a team of TU Delft students placed third in the 2022 Solar Decathlon with its Symbiotic Urban Movement, a plan to transform all of the Netherlands’ 847,000 tenement flats into highly energy-efficient apartments; and alumna Tessa Koenig Gimeno shared first prize at the Dutch Archiprix 2022 for her project “Decolonising the City: Public Space as Cultural Resistance in Santiago de Chile.” TU Delft is also famous for its array of research groups, including the paradigm-shifting Why Factory, run by MVRDV’s Winy Maas; and the Addis Ababa Living Lab, which aims to contribute to improve the livelihoods of urban communities living in low- and middle-income countries.
Notable alumni
Jan Benthem and Mels Crouwel (Benthem Crouwel); Francine Houben and Dick van Gameren (Mecanoo); Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs and Nathalie de Vries (MVRDV)
Notable faculty
Alfons van Marrewijk, Evelien Bruggeman, and visiting professors including Anne Lacaton and Atelier Bow-Wow
