Glass Corridor

When the Cobbenhagen Building, the only building on campus at the time, had become too small to cope with the growing numbers of staff and students, the current Koopmans Building was added in 1971. To prevent people from having to go outdoors to get from A to B, as these buildings were called in those days, the architect, Jos Bedaux, came up with the glass corridor to connect the two.

Posters, once

Its windows, many meters wide, soon proved to be the site of choice for student organizations to display their posters. Hidden amongst many hundreds of announcements for parties, drinks, concerts, etc., there was also what was likely to be the single most ignored sign on campus, saying: “Please do not display posters. Signed: R.H.A.M. Kraakman, secretary of the University.” In the early 21st century, this state of affairs came to an end when the then President of the Executive Board, Yvonne van Rooy, decided she wanted to have an uninterrupted view of the University’s celebrated green campus. The posters were banned to the Mensa. But this then led to another unforeseen calamity: with some regularity, pigeons, chased by birds of prey, smashed to their deaths against the windows.

Poem by Rutger Kopland

And so, at a crisis meeting involving the art commission and Professor Jaap Goedegebuure, a permanent solution was found. Poet and scholar Rutger Kopland proved to be prepared to create an appropriate poem. The subject of this poem was academic life in general and the corridor in particular; it was designed by the Kinkorn design agents; it was produced in two languages and in University brand colors; and it was applied to the corridor windows. Barring an occasional stray carcass, this has indeed helped to lower the number of pigeon casualties.