Why NU?
Zuidas University Image Archive
Freek Schmidt: “Without a doubt, the New University Building is not the most exciting name for a new VU University Building. But unintentionally, it does point to the spatial history of our alma mater. It started at Keizersgracht 162. In that old canal house, originally built in 1615, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam opened its doors in the spring of 1884. For more than 80 years, this first university building remained the core of what grew into a mini campus on the canal with the purchase of a few neighbouring buildings."
"The NU building continues a tradition in this sense. Just like its predecessor on the canal, the new building hopes to be versatile and sustainable: not only energy-efficient and with a green roof, but also with workspaces, study rooms, auditoriums, and a cinema and café, all around a central atrium. Research and education, science, culture and recreation come together as befits a university: as the centre of a community.”
Freek Schmidt In addition to being an architectural historian and professor of history of architecture and the living environment, Freek Schmidt is also portfolio holder for education at the Faculty of Humanities. In addition, he is active as a consultant on spatial quality.
magazine for humanities alumni december 2022