Dick van Gameren appointed Dean of the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment
The Executive Board has appointed Prof. Dick van Gameren Dean of the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment as of 1 April 2019. He is currently chairman of the Architecture Department at the same faculty.
Dick van Gameren studied Architecture in Delft and graduated cum laude in 1988. For a long time, he ran his own architecture firm and in 2013 became a partner with Mecanoo Architecten in Delft. Over the years he has realised numerous projects, ranging from exhibition designs to urban-development master plans. Examples of his designs include residential buildings in IJburg and the Eastern Docklands area of Amsterdam and in the Westelijke Tuinsteden neighbourhood of the city. His design for the Dutch Embassy in Ethiopia won him the prestigious Aga Khan Award in 2007. It is just one of the many awards he has received. Recently, he won the Rijnlandse Architectuurprijs with his design for the Langebrug student housing project in Leiden. He has been Professor of Dwelling at the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment since 2006, and chairman of the Architecture Department for ten years; his responsibilities include managing an international teaching and research network aimed at tackling the problem of affordable housing in rapidly expanding cities in Asia and Africa.
The Executive Board is delighted with this appointment. “I am convinced that in Dick van Gameren we have found the very person who can expand on the collaboration within the faculty and with other faculties, as well as beyond the university. Under his leadership, the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment can apply itself to addressing such social issues as the major housing construction challenges and the sustainability of existing urban areas,” says Tim van der Hagen, Rector Magnificus and President of the Executive Board. Van Gameren is keen to take on these challenges: “As an internationally renowned faculty, we can play a leading role in tackling the pressing issues facing us at home and abroad. These include the explosive growth of urbanisation in many parts of the world, but also in the Netherlands. The beauty of this faculty is that it houses many disciplines that deal with spatial planning. So let us focus on those challenges together.”
Professor Van Gameren is succeeding Professor Bert Geerken, who has been acting Dean since 15 June 2018. The Executive Board would like to warmly thank Professor Geerken for his full commitment during his tenure as acting Dean.
