A campus is a living thing. It expands and shrinks. It follows the changing needs of the university. It can be perceived as lively yet it can be boring. In an ideal situation, knowledge garnered from the most exotic branches of research wafts through the air. Some see the campus as the epitome of the grandeur of a university, others see it as an industrial area. Just like any other neighbourhood, it has a distinct style and atmosphere.
The history of the city of Delft is closely intertwined with the history of the Delft University of Technology. The university was founded in 1842 as a Royal Academy, a small-scale school for engineers. In 1864 it was developed into a Polytechnic School. The school was converted to a Technical College (Technische Hogeschool) in 1905, giving it the same academic status as a university. At that time, all the buildings were located in the city centre.
After the Second World War large numbers of students signed up for the Technical University. Most of the faculties had trouble providing sufficient room for lectures and practicals. As the technical sciences had changed drastically in the thirties and forties, the teaching of these subjects had to be modernised.