Fire Causes Collapse of Delft University of Technology Architecture Building

HT: Ben Hur of LGF

The fire completely destroyed the building.

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.”