Nearly thirty years after it opened, the Library of Delft University of Technology continues to evolve. On 17 November 2026, TU Delft celebrates the opening of the library’s new Collection Wall in the Central Hall, with a new exhibition sharing the stories of eight alumni. Francine Houben, Founding Partner and Creative Director of Mecanoo, will also look back on designing the library in the 1990s and how it has grown since.
A New Collection Wall
The library has long been a place to share knowledge. The new Collection Wall puts the university’s collection on display and invites people from different disciplines to explore it together. Bringing together TU Delft’s physical and digital collections, it offers a space for exhibitions, heritage objects, research and student work. Alongside the library, researchers, lecturers, students and creative and technical partners all contribute to its ongoing development.
Traces of Transformation
The new exhibition, Traces of Transformation, brings carefully selected artefacts from across the university to the wall, showing how knowledge is created, grows and makes an impact. It also shares the stories of eight alumni whose work, drawing on a range of disciplines, has contributed to technological, social and economic developments. Their journeys show how innovation grows when knowledge, research and entrepreneurship come together, and how a TU Delft education can help address the societal challenges of today and tomorrow. For current students, they offer a glimpse of their own possible futures and a stronger sense of belonging to the TU Delft community.
Past, Present & Future
Francine Houben will reflect on the library from its design in the 1990s to the present day. As one of the library’s architects and a graduate of TU Delft, named the university’s Alumnus of the Year in 2020, she brings a personal perspective on how the building and the campus around it have grown.
Library Delft University of Technology
TU Delft commissioned Mecanoo to design a library that would be the heart of the university and give a face to a campus the size of a city district. A vast lawn opposite the Brutalist concrete auditorium is tilted at one corner, and the library slides into the space beneath. A cone, the symbol of technical engineering, pierces the lawn and the library like a pushpin, bringing daylight into the central hall and shaping reading rooms on the upper floors. Designed with the digital transition in mind, the library has continued to adapt over time.
November 17th, from 16:00 to 18:00. TU Delft Library, Central Hall. Register, here.