Newsletter 10

The website about the new building is now online! It contains information about the design, the project schedule and the departments and workshops the building will accommodate. If you have any questions about the Gerrit & Willem Do-It-Yourself project, you can ask them here.

Work on the new building has now started in earnest. The building site has been defined and set out, the sheet pile walls put in place, the foundation piles drilled and filled and the construction pit reinforced with a strut frame. The pit will be dug to a depth of 5 m before construction of the cellar starts. Current construction work is in the ground, and the building will not emerge above ground level until the new year.

As you will have noticed, construction was halted for a while after the summer in order for soil tests to be conducted. It was already known that the ground was slightly contaminated, but there were doubts about the degree of contamination. The tests now conducted have revealed that it is in line with previous tests and at a level that is not unusual in an urban setting. All of this has led to a delay of several weeks. However, the builders have indicated that they expect to be able to make up for this delay either partly or completely later in the process.

Students from the Ceramics department were invited to participate in the DIY project. They came up with design proposals for three-dimensional wall tiles in the stairwell. The designs by Ildikó Horváth, Katri Paunu, Ziynet Hidiroglu and Caro de Jonge can be seen in the Eight Cubic Meters exhibition. Caro de Jonge's design will be implemented in 2017.

The exhibition runs until 10 December at Sint Nicolaasstraat, Amsterdam.

During the summer, various renovations took place in existing Academy buildings. The VAV location and the Glass & Photography workshops underwent renovation work.

VAV

VAV moved into its new location on the first floor of the Rietveld building in December 2015. It was then agreed that various modifications could be made to the area during the summer recess. At VAV's request, some walls were removed, creating an ideal mix of open studio areas and project rooms.

Glass

In the last academic year, the Glass department put its mind to the best layout for the available space. Work has now been carried out to create a more open space. This has increased the amount of free space, creating more room to work in the workshop.

Photography

The Photography workshop underwent thorough renovations in the summer. There is now a 32 m2 darkroom and a new 29 m2 workshop.

The academy is convinced that the renovated workshops and department rooms now more effectively meet the needs of students and lecturers. We invite everyone to take a look around the newly renovated areas.