Robert Wirenga

Robert Wierenga's homeuniversity is Technical University Delft in The Netherlands. He was an exchange student autumn 2007.

I: What was your first impression of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts?
RW: I liked the buildings and the cosy atmosphere at the school with relatively few students as opposed to my school TU Delft in Holland with 3000 students located in a 13 storey building. 

I: How were the first couple of weeks at the school?
RW: The introduction week was good as it gave me a chance to get to know the other international students. As an exchange student I didn’t expect that every activity on the school would be carried out in English. However I was surprised that so much is in Danish, i.e. presentations by Danish students or lectures with English titles held in Danish. Sometimes it feels like the exchange students are a little less important than the Danish students.  

I: How is your accommodation?
RW: I like the apartment where I stay. It is right in the center and I have a nice landlady. I also enjoy that another exchange student stays in the same apartment.  

I: Tell me about your social life.
RW: I did a language course at Copenhagen University before the semester start where I met non-architecture exchange students from the university of Copenhagen. I still do things with most of them. I have been on trips to places, museums and castles outside Copenhagen with some of the exchange students from Copenhagen University.

I: How would you describe the learning method and the architectural approach at the school?
RW: Tuition is studio based. You get to focus on one project that makes it up for 30 ECTS credits. At home I must take a lot of different courses, write essays and take exams too. I really like the fact that one can focus on one project at the school. The disadvantage is that if you get stuck with your project then you can’t turn to some other task. The Danish students are better then most students I know from TU Delft at making models and drawing, I have seen some excellent models and beautiful drawings. But the theoretical level is lower – perhaps because it is not taught. The main difference between this school and my home institution is that a ‘legitimate’ argument for a project is much broader at this school. Here the arguments don’t have to be so legitimate to count. This of course also means that there is more room for artistic ideas. Take my own project as an example. I am making a project in and around a ruin from the Second World War in Palermo, Italy. Palermo is a really loud and busy city. There are no public spaces except for the churches to turn to as a place for silence and solitude. At night it would be interesting to use the ruins as an observatory. It is a relevant project at this school whereas it would possibly be considered to be ‘arty’ at the TU Delft.  

I: Do you have any pieces of advice for the future international students at the Academy?
RW: Take a language course in Danish before the semester starts. It pays off in many ways. In general it is polite to know a little bit of the local language. Coming into a shop it is nice to be able to say a little more then “Tak” [thank you] to the seller. It is also useful to know some Danish in order to do to the admin stuff like getting a registration number, opening a bank account and getting a bike. At the language course I got to know some other students from Copenhagen University. I appreciate socialising with the university students that have more time and a perspective different then that from the architect students.