Eindhoven city council would like to keep Design Academy in Eindhoven. The educational institution previously announced that it might move to another city.
Following the message from the Design Academy (DAE), the Eindhoven fractions of VVD, PvdA, and D66 asked council questions in the city council. The institution thinks the €4 million, made available by the municipality for the move, is not enough. It is not satisfied with the intended Microlab location. The parties want to know what the municipality is doing to keep the institution in Eindhoven. According to the college, other locations in the city are also being seriously considered to house the education. In addition, the municipality also expects other parties to step in to make the move possible.
Other options
Although the city government is still looking at the Microlab as a new location, other options are also being considered. Currently, the Design Academy is in the Witte Dame. The lease was supposed to end next year. Some leeway has now been given to that. “The acute time pressure has been taken off in consultation with the landlord of the current location. This allows us and the Academy’s Supervisory Board to make a good decision in which the Academy simply remains part of design city Eindhoven.”
Housing
But it is not only education that needs accommodation, student housing also leaves much to be desired, the DAE believes. “Also, in the (regular) student housing consultations with the institutions, the Academy’s desire for a preferential position for the approximately 200 first-year students will be discussed again,” the city council informs.
In any case, the college wants the institution to stay in Eindhoven. “It is a crucial part of the whole design network that now characterises Eindhoven,” they inform the city council. That the Design Academy might move to another city is not seen as very realistic. “A unique and rock-solid ecosystem has grown here. That cannot be relocated or simply recreated in a new municipality out of nowhere”.
Source: Studio040
Translated by Chaitali Sengupta
