On January 8, 1842, King Willem II founded the 'Royal Academy for the education of civilian engineers, for serving both nation and industry, and of apprentices for trade'. On June 20, 1864, a Royal Decree was issued, ordering that the Royal Academy in Delft be disbanded in order to make way for a new 'Polytechnic School'. The School went on to educate architects, and engineers in the fields of civil works, shipbuilding, mechanical engineering and mining. STYLOS, the Student Association for architectural students in the faculty, was established in 1894 and is one of the biggest in the Netherlands.
Building
In 2008, the faculty of Architecture almost completely burned down in a fire. The current building is TU Delft's former main building.
Chair Collection
The Faculty is home to a famous chair collection. It was originally housed in the old building and it narrowly escaped destruction in the fire in which that building burned down. Having so narrowly escaped the fire, the value of the collection became much more apparent. The free-to-enter museum showcasing a large collection of chairs throughout history, is currently housed as a permanent exhibit in the new faculty building.
BkBeats
BkBeats started in 1972 when it was called 'Bouwkundefeest' and was hosted at the faculty then also, however back then it was the old faculty which burned down in 2008. Since then it is hosted in the new faculty building. It is the largest student festival hosted in an educational faculty in the Netherlands. It is hosted biennially, and organised by STYLOS, one of the faculties student organisations. The festival is so popular that it has been sold out many consecutive editions to date. As of the 2018 edition of the event, regular tickets costed 16 euro. For the festival the faculty is rebuilt from the inside and the festival takes place inside the faculty building.
Master in Architecture with specialisations in Architecture and Modernity: Dwelling, Architecture and Modernity: Public Building, Heritage, Hybrid Building for the Dutch City, Interiors, Buildings and Cities, Hyperbody: Non-standard and Interactive Architecture, Materialisation, and Architectural Engineering
Master in Urbanism with specialisations in Urban Regeneration, Delta Interventions, Complex Cities and Regions in Transformation, Design as Politics, Future Cities, and Vertical Cities Asia
Master in Building Technology with specialisations in Climate, Facade and Structural Design
Master in Real Estate & Housing with specialisations in Design & Construction Management, Real Estate Management, and Housing
With a large international student presence, there are various specialist associations linked to the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment. These include a study association for students and an alumni association, as well as several active practical associations.
Stylos: Established in 1894, the Architecture study association has more than 2,100 members and around 100 active committee members.
Polis: Platform for Urbanism and Landscape Architecture is the study association for Master students of the Faculty of Architecture specialising in urbanism and landscape architecture
Boss: the student association linked to the department of Management in the Built Environment. It was established in 1993 at the faculty of Architecture
BouT: the student and practice association for Building Technology of the Faculty of Architecture
Forum: Forum Housing Association is an association which aims to stimulate discussion about living and housing as part of the Real Estate and Housing specialization
Research output
Architecture and the Built Environment PhD thesis series
