Aula TU Delft, Netherlands – Miniature Concrete Model

Model 079_Aula TU Delft, Netherlands – Miniature Concrete Model
Hand-cast in fine concrete. Shaped by memory.

Some buildings sit on the edge of science and theatre.
The Aula at TU Delft feels exactly like that.

Completed in 1966 on Mekelweg, the Aula TU Delft is the brutalist heart of the university campus, designed by Van den Broek & Bakema as a vast auditorium and ceremonial hall for the Technical University. Its great concrete body cantilevers out over the grass, supported on angular legs, with a folded roofline of vertical fins that cut sharply into the Dutch sky. Often nicknamed “the frog” or “the UFO”, it has become one of the most recognisable post-war modernist buildings in the Netherlands and was listed as a national monument in 2009.

Inside, the Aula houses a 1,300-seat auditorium, trapezoid lecture halls, senate chambers and daily social spaces, from the main restaurant to informal meeting areas on the stairs. It is where students graduate, where honorary doctorates are awarded, and where the university gathers to mark its biggest moments, so the building lives in thousands of personal memories as much as in architecture books.

I was drawn to the Aula for its sheer strangeness and poise: that hovering concrete hull, the serrated roof, the way the whole thing seems to crouch and lift at once. Turning it into a model meant focusing on the overhangs and the symmetry along its length, simplifying the rear wings so the main auditorium volume and folded fins stay clear. I worked through several digital massing studies to get the stance right, then refined the casting so the undersides, legs and roof all catch light in a way that feels true to walking up across Mekelpark towards it.

A small concrete fragment of one of Europe’s great brutalist university halls.

Features
• Solid cast concrete, individually hand-poured
• 2.5cm high, 9cm wide, 5cm deep (approx)
• Laser-etched cork base with building name
• Comes gift-boxed for the perfect concrete gift
• Designed, modelled, and finished in the UK

This model is for anyone who has studied or worked at TU Delft, fallen for Dutch Brutalism, or been captivated by that strange “spaceship” on Mekelweg. It sits easily on a desk, shelf or studio windowsill, keeping a piece of Delft’s campus and your own time there close at hand.

15% off when you order two or more models

EU customers: please order via my Etsy shop due to customs regulations

Building Information

Location: Delft, South Holland, Netherlands
Architect: Van den Broek & Bakema
Completed: 1959–1966 (officially opened 1966)
Status: National monument and active university aula

Brief Overview:
The Aula TU Delft was developed as the ceremonial and social centre of a new campus plan in the 1960s, conceived along Mekelweg as a showcase of Dutch technical education. Its dramatic cantilevered concrete form with folded roof, exposed structure and deep overhangs expresses the building’s internal functions and the brutalist fascination with visible construction. Housing the main auditorium, lecture halls, senate rooms and student facilities, it has become a key work of Dutch post-war modernism and a defining landmark for generations of TU Delft students.

Please note:

ALL EU ORDERS processed through our Etsy Store HERE

My concrete sculptures are individually hand cast in solid concrete. This means that each piece will have distinctive markings and minor blemishes due to air bubbles in the concrete. This is a natural part of the material and will mean that no two pieces are ever exactly the same.

Shipping:
I aim to make and ship your artwork within 30 days. If you require your order by a specific date before this please let me know.

Express shipping options at checkout for additional costs