Due to the economic crisis, a building closer to the city center of Delft became available that originally would have been developed by Fortis Bank into luxurious apartments. The monumental building – the former headquarters of the TU, was made ready to accommodate the faculty for the coming five years.
Since the building was too small to accommodate the whole faculty, a temporary extension needed to be added for which MVRDV designed several schemes. Starting point was the wish to give the separate institutes and departments within the faculty a more recognizable identity. The destroyed building in its essence was an office building – a grey monolith in which the various institutes such as the Delft School of Design were hidden in anonymity. The temporary building offered the opportunity to make these institutes more visible. The proposals included the distribution of pavilions inside the building and an addition of a recognizable extension to the characteristic tower.