Fire Destroys Faculty of Architecture at Technical University, Delft

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On May 13th, presumably due to a short circuit caused by a faulty water pipe, a disastrous fire occurred at the Faculty of Architecture Technical University of Delft. The building was designed and completed in the late 1960’s by Jaap Bakema of the architecture firm Van den Broek and Bakema. The building, also home of Docomomo Netherlands and the Organizing Committee of the 10th International Docomomo Conference, was completely destroyed. Fortunately, the building was evacuated in time and there were no injuries. However, the loss of work of faculty and students, including damage to the library collection, one of the best in Europe with over 40,000 publications is regrettable. The school was also owner of a famous chair collection with over 200 works by Le Corbusier, Rietveld and Gispen, luckily of which 80 models have been saved. 

All digital data was saved, so there is expected to be only a minimal effect on the organization of the DOCOMOMO 10th International Conference. TU Delft's Executive Board is currently exploring alternate locations for the school to currently use. To reach the organizing committee of the conference please use the following email- conference@docomomo2008.nl.