Architecture Addiction, The Official Blog of

Rory Olcayto of Building Design wrote about yesterday’s devastating fire at Delft Univeristy.

A “catastrophic” fire has caused serious damage to the architecture faculty at Delft University in the Netherlands, endangering first edition books by Rem Koolhaas and MVRDV and Gerrit Rietveld furniture.

Although no-one was injured in the blaze, much of the 14-storey building has been completely destroyed, BD understands.

Tony Fretton, a visiting professor at the department, said the fire – which broke out on a mid-level floor around 9am local time and rapidly spread upwards - is believed to have been started by a short circuit in a coffee machine caused by a faulty water pipe.

“The faculty building caught alight, then spread to the library and the historic chair collection - which includes Rietveld’s Red and Blue chair,” Fretton said. “The fire brigade couldn’t get close to it and decided to stand back and let the fire burn itself out. The whole building is gutted. The effect will be enormous - there are 3,000 students. It’s a complete calamity.”

With exams being held in two months, Fretton, who is teaching next week, said he did not know where students would be taught.

“The building was actually undergoing a refurbishment at the time of the fire,” he said. “The damage is going to run into the millions.” He added that first editions of books by Koolhaas and MVRDV are now feared lost.

During the fire, a nearby student residence was evacuated and people in other buildings were warned to keep windows closed because of the heavy smoke.

A spokeswoman for Delft University said: “Although there were no personal accidents, we regret the loss of the work of staff and students and a number of collections. Delft’s executive board is currently investigating at which alternative locations staff and students of the architecture faculty can be housed.”

Share the grief – Read the comments