A tip from Rik: TU/e Faculty of Built Environment: Vertigo

Like every year, the faculty of Built Environment attracts many new students. Our city guide Rik also attended his training here. This month he shares a tip for everyone visiting the TU/e Campus: take a closer look at the faculty building Vertigo. You might even spot the Sagrada Familia ... Wait, what?

Vertigo is the big green building that looms up as you approach the university. An impressive welcome to visitors, with the letters 'TU/e' clearly visible on the roof. This was once home to the faculty of chemical engineering and chemistry. When the Built Environment faculty moved into this building in 2002, they decided to radically renovate. On the concrete skeleton a new surface was placed, with glass strips and large areas of screen-printed glass.

Sagrada Familia

The pattern of stripes on the facade is a print of the scaffolding of Gaudi's Sagrada Familia. It symbolises the educational character of the building in which the process is more important than the result. "Here your mind is on the scaffolding”, Rik explains. Inside there is indeed plenty of room for the development of the student. Downstairs is the workshop where students work on models and where you can buy materials for your project.

But even if you’re not a student you are welcome to be inspired here. Take the 'lazy stairs' (stairs with a small slope) to the exhibition space Plaza on the first floor. Casa Vertigo regularly organises interesting exhibitions in the field of art, culture and technology. You can also grab a coffee at the mini Starbucks here.

Social problems and realistic solutions

The study programme in Eindhoven is known for its broad basis. In the beginning you get subjects from building planning to construction theory. After that, you go into depth with the master's programmes and work towards your own specialisation. Rik explains how you are challenged to think about social problems and realistic solutions. The TU/e is also highly innovative. For example, it is currently involved in the realization of the world's first, truly inhabited 3D-printed houses that will soon appear in Meerhoven, a popular neighborhood in Eindhoven. The announcement of this unique construction project this year made the news from CNN to the Guardian.