Koopmans building

The building housing the Tilburg School of Economics and Management (TiSEM) was named after econometrist Tjalling Charles Koopmans (1910-1985), who was the second Dutchman ever to win the Nobel prize for Economy in 1975, together with the Russian Kantorovitsj, for their theoretical work on the optimum use of natural resources. As Koopmans acquired American citizenship in 1946, public recognition in the Netherlands has been restricted to a memorial plaque being attached to his native home in ’s Graveland. With some regularity, the Faculty awards the Tjalling C. Koopmans Medal to its distinguished members, such as Arie Kapteyn (2008) or Theo Nijman (2012). The Koopmans Building dates back to 1972 and was designed by Jos Bedaux, who had also designed the Cobbenhagen Building in the fifties. At the time, three low-rise buildings had been projected to house the research institutes, but the University’s rapid expansion called for a more radical solution: a high-rise building with no fewer than twelve floors.

Typical elements

The design incorporates elements that can also be found in the design of the Cobbenhagen Building: the grey concrete look, the shellbearing limestone and the white sheets framing the balconies before the receding windows. The Building has a slender look, reinforced by the glass facade on the ground floor and, initially, by there being an open passage through the pillars on its left. When a dark technical service compartment was inserted there, however, this illusion of lightness was lost. In 2017, the second renovation (picture) of the Building was undertaken, a process that did not thrill everyone right away: the renovation was considered to be far too costly, and the projected spaces were either much too small or offering too little privacy. And though give and take is not the most striking feature of the contemporary era, a compromise was eventually reached. As it always is.