TU Delft
history
revives
with
digital
atlas

Text Annabelle de Bruijn
© Photos Jules Schoonman/TU Delft

The very first TU Delft building can now be visited digitally. This is thanks to the Allmaps software that makes historical maps easier to find and to use.

A Delft engineer and a modelling studio do not seem that obvious a combination. Yet, the very first TU Delft building housed a classroom devoted to modelling. It has recently become possible to digitally ‘visit’ the stately building on Oude Delft 95 thanks to Allmaps, software conceived and developed by digital curator Jules Schoonman of the TU Delft Library and independent developer and cartographer Bert Spaan. Allmaps makes it easier to find, inspect, georeference (virtually laying an old map over a modern one) and reuse digitised maps. Earlier projects completed by Schoonman together with TU students included the making of the City Atlas. In it, historical maps and floor plans of Amsterdam were superimposed on a modern map, showing clearly how the city has changed over the centuries.

Quite a puzzle

Back to Oude Delft 95. Schoonman and student teaching assistant Stepan Prikazchikov not only georeferenced floor plans of this very first TU Delft building, but also placed dozens of historical photographs of the building on the map. In their research, they browsed through hundreds of old digitised photos of the technical university. Recognising and placing those photos could be quite a puzzle, Prikazchikov says. “Sometimes a photo initially offered too few hints for me to determine which classroom I was looking at, but based on the number of windows and doors, I could then still determine that the part depicted was part of the chemistry classroom, for example.”

Chemistry lab

The Polytechnic School’s first full-time female students Marie Bes, Bep van West and Suze van Hoytema pictured in one of the many chemistry labs. In 1904, Bes would be the first female student to graduate. Until after World War II, the chemistry department had the highest proportion of female students. The photo is from the earliest minutes of the Delft Female Students’ Association (DVSV) in the collection of the Delft City Archives.

Collection of building materials from Indonesia

Behind the lecture hall, on the first floor, was the study collection of the chair of knowledge and research of building materials, founded in 1882 and led by Jacobus van der Kloes. Besides samples of natural and artificial stones, part of the collection was from the International Colonial Exhibition, held in Amsterdam in 1883. The models of bamboo bridges (left and centre in the picture) are still in the collection of the TU Delft Library.

Modelling room

Freehand drawing was a compulsory component for all students. Whereas initially the emphasis was on copying existing images, the appointment of Bram Gips in 1894 resulted in ‘drawing from nature’ being promoted, with a focus on copying casts and original building fragments. Modelling, too, was offered as a course of study to architecture students and it was taught by sculptor Eugène Lacomblé.

Prinsenkamer

From 1842, this was the study of the Prince of Orange, later King William III, patron of the Royal Academy. Since the study was only used on official occasions, the room served as a meeting room for professors and teachers the rest of the time. It is still largely in its original state. The portrait on the right is of Prof. Gerrit Simons, professor of mechanical engineering and second director of the Royal Academy for the period 1846-1856.

Allmaps uses an extension of the International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF), a set of open standards for sharing AV material, to function. To make Allmaps possible, Schoonman and Spaan had to win over quite a few people. “Ultimately, it means extending an international standard. Together with map specialists from an international consortium of libraries, we discussed how we were going to shape the extension.” The scientific advantage Allmaps gives is mainly that it makes historical maps easier to find and to use. Schoonman: “Usually, you need to know the structure of an archive incredibly well to find the right map. Georeferencing with Allmaps allows us to gain access to these kinds of collections geographically, by location.” It’s useful to TU Delft as well. “Hundreds of maps from the special collections have been digitised, and we can now make these more visible.” Allmaps has now also been adopted beyond the Dutch border, for example in the United States, France and Japan. Schoonman: “This is exactly what we were hoping for and it aligns with the Library’s ‘open’ vision.”

heritage.tudelft.nl redirects you to the Campus Atlas.

allmaps.org