On May 13 2008, a fire destroyed the old faculty building, which was located at Berlageweg 1. Within one year, the Dean of BK led a team of 5 architectural firms to transform the disused, former Chemistry building of the TU into a new home for the architecture and urban planning students. The new faculty was named BK City, which refers to the urban pattern of public ‘streets’ in the building with lively signs and details that cross through different spaces.

This new building has a smaller footprint than the one before, but it still fit by using web access at flexible work stations and by making creative use of multi-functional spaces. The spaces in between the wings of the building were used to create airy conservatories that amounted to an extra 4000 m2 of designing studios.

In the front: arboreta

The arboreta on the BK square was designed and built for researching the urban heat island (UHI). This is an effect where an urban or metropolitan area is significantly warmer than its surrounding rural areas due to human activities. The main cause of the urban heat island effect is from the covering of land surfaces, such as paving and buildings which absorb and retain heat. It is known that trees can have a positive cooling effect on urban areas, but exactly how they do it is still partly unknown. In order to determine how physical properties such as the trunk, crown shape and the leaf characteristics influence the local air temperature, the research team of Urban Forestry, led by Rene van der Velden, designed and built this special climate arboreta with sensors installed on each of the 75 tree species.

In the front: Vries van Heijstplantsoen

In the front of the building you can find a triangular which is part of the protected townscape of the TU neighbourhood. The buildings around it are the old faculty buildings for Mining and Chemistry, constructed from 1912-1945. The park is designed by renowned landscape architect H.A.C. Poortman (1863-1953). In the east side of the park there is a house was a German police post during WOII.

Sources
BK City in Delft – European Heritage Awards / Europa Nostra Awards. (2017, March 16). European Heritage Awards / Europa Nostra Awards. https://www.europeanheritageawards.eu/winners/bk-city-delft/

BK City, Delft – Braaksma & Roos Architectenbureau. (2023, August 17). Braaksma & Roos Architectenbureau. https://braaksma-roos.nl/project/bk-city/

What is the coolest tree? (n.d.). TU Delft. https://www.tudelft.nl/en/stories/articles/what-is-the-coolest-tree/