In light of ever-increasing student numbers, combined with the need for more education space, Echo, the new interfaculty building for TU Delft, is designed to meet the leading Dutch university’s need for flexible extra teaching space – now and in the future.

This energy-generating interfaculty building offers a wide variety of teaching rooms to cater for the diversity of teaching methods and study styles. As the most sustainable building at the TU Delft, this campus building is contributing to the university’s ambitions to operate a fully sustainable campus by 2030.

For Echo, UNStudio, in collaboration with Arup and BBN, created a design that fully supports different educational typologies and teaching methods with a sustainable building in which adaptability and the wellbeing of the user are central.

Designed to be a future-proof and active campus, Echo not only connects with the surrounding public space, it also defines it.

"The Echo building teaches by example. In this highly compact building, the use of space is maximised, while bringing students from different disciplines in closer contact. Not only can they condense their learning experience and learn from each other, but they can also learn from the building itself," Ben van Berkel, UNStudio's Founder and Principal Architect.

A healthy campus building – for people and planet

Transparency was essential to the design of Echo. It not only ensures maximum daylight inside the building, but also creates a visual connection to the wider campus and to surrounding nature. As such, a closed-in, ‘institutional’ experience for the users is avoided, while the open and public character of the building provides a bright, uplifting and welcoming environment for faculty and students alike.

However, to avoid heat gain, it is also essential to prevent excess sunlight penetration. Overheating of the building is prevented by a combination of sun protection and the low solar penetration factor of the glass. In addition, the deep horizontal aluminum awnings keep out excess solar heat.

To ensure clean air in the building, a plenum floor is installed above hollow-core slabs. Here fresh air is pumped up from the floor, rather than down from above, thus avoiding circulation around the room. The vents for this system, along with the computer floor installation, can easily be relocated, should the layouts of the rooms change in the future.

1200 solar panels, smart installations, good insulation and a heat and cold storage system ensure that Echo will be able to provide more energy than it requires for its daily operations. This includes user-related energy, such as electricity consumption for laptops, lighting and catering. 90% of the furniture used in the building has also been reused.

Not only has a great deal of attention been paid to the environmental impact of the materials used in the construction, but the building has been designed as much as possible according to principles of circularity.

"Unlike traditional campuses that operate in silos, the future campus needs to be programmed with agile spaces that invite students and faculty to learn, collaborate and co-create. As student numbers continue to grow, educational buildings need to be extremely flexible, to operate through a model based on shared interfaculty use that can promote a more generalist education," Ben van Berkel, UNStudio's Founder and Principal Architect.

A building that stimulates movement and collaboration
Echo is an education building with multifunctional spaces that transcends current learning environments. The design supports the contemporary culture of 'Everything Anywhere', where the in-between spaces are also of great importance and physical movement is stimulated.

Echo therefore also provides space for unstructured time: a variety of platforms for reflection, inspiration and communication. At specific positions in the interior, bamboo ribs extend along the ceiling, forming an integral part of the design. This is extended around the central staircase, and, in one gesture, joins the study and cooperation spaces into one connected world of learning, collaboration and connection. This centrally positioned 'grand stair' also facilitates and promotes physical movement, contributing to the health of students, researchers and teachers alike.

A future-proof campus is an active campus. That is why Echo not only connects with the surrounding public space, it also defines it. Two sculptural volumes (the large 700 person lecture hall and the debate space), direct the flow of people across this covered square. The diagonal orientation of these volumes simultaneously defines two large transparent corners, one housing a restaurant with terrace opposite the D:Dreamhall, and the other a large study landscape.

Future-proof: a wide variety of flexible teaching rooms
Echo houses a total of seven teaching rooms, most with a flexible layout. The largest lecture room on the ground floor, which can accommodate 700 people, can be divided into three separate rooms in 15 minutes.

A similar movable wall system is used in the mixed didactic space on the first level, so that this can be divided into two classrooms of 144 places each when required. The more than 300 study spaces throughout the building can be used for group work and self-study.

The various teaching rooms have been designed based on the current and future needs of the lecturers and students.There is also a case-study room that is particularly suitable for motivational teaching/interaction between lecturers and students.

In addition there are four level rooms for project-based teaching, each accommodating almost 70 people.