The Feringa Building was finally taken into use on Monday, nearly three years behind on schedule. A few classes have already been taught there, including one by Ben Feringa, whom the building was named after.
The new building for the Faculty of Science and Engineering replaces the Nijenborgh 4 complex and has room for approximately 1,400 students and 850 staff members. It houses laboratories, lecture halls, offices, and a central meeting centre, among other things.
This first part of the building won’t be completely finished until March – the construction of the second part hasn’t started yet – but that doesn’t bother the students. ‘I think it’s the nicest building we have on campus’, says biomedical engineering student Vera Zout. ‘It improves the image of Zernike, and I like how it brings multiple programmes together in one place.’
Better atmosphere
Fellow student Emil Broekman likes the building as well. ‘It’s much nicer than Nijenborgh, where I used to have most of my classes’, he says. ‘It’s just a better atmosphere, there’s more light and there are so many places to study.’
A big part of the atmosphere is the building’s scale, according to the students. ‘It’s very grand, unlike any other building’, says computing science student Lars Noordhuis. ‘I feel like I’m at an airport, but instead of a hundred gates, there are a hundred lecture rooms.’
Maze
‘From the outside, it looks just like an airport’, agrees master student Mohammad al Shakoush. ‘It has such a modern look, it’s fantastic. Although it does feel like a maze.’
‘It doesn’t feel as cramped as other buildings on campus’, says Emmet Pyne, also a computing science student.
Even so, there are students who think it doesn’t make much of a difference. ‘The building is cool and modern, but the classrooms feel pretty similar to any other building’, says energy and environmental sciences student Saskia. ‘And they’re all so white. At least on the first floor.’
