Renovating Langezijds for educational or research purposes is no longer an option. The same goes for the Matrix building (previously Hal D). The current location of the AKI art academy is also being targeted for destruction. The latest rationale for adjusting the building plans is to cluster as many lab facilities as possible.
A new clean room was already planned between Matrix and the current AKI building. The demolition of Matrix, and later the AKI building, will create more possibilities for realizing `one large building unit' for a new clean room and new laboratories for Electrical Engineering, Applied Physics and Chemical Technology research groups. An additional advantage is that the involved research groups will have to move only once during the large-scale re-housing operation. The new floor plan for the Research & Education center is as yet unknown.
AKI director Peter Sonderen is saddened that housing the art academy no longer suits the UT's campus design plans. `I wouldn't have considered leaving campus,' AKI director Peter Sonderen says. `We've been here for five years, and really like it here. I know the UT also values the presence of the AKI on campus and of our mutual cooperation. But, they also have their own priorities which outweigh this.' The AKI arrived on campus in 1997 and has a lease until 2012, but now a 2007 departure seems inevitable.
Trans. Jeroen Latour
