Many Dutch universities have given their logo a prominent physical location on their campus in recent years to serve as an unmistakable landmark, a rendezvous point and a so-called photo opportunity. By taking a selfie with the logo, students, employees and visitors can instantly show people where they are at that moment. It is also the perfect place to have your picture taken with your degree certificate in hand after your graduation or PhD ceremony.

Shortly after the spring break, TU/e will also offer the opportunity to snap such a pic. Spaan Metaal in Nuenen spent the last few weeks carefully cutting the TU/e logo out of steel plate, welding the parts together and applying a sleek red coating. The name of the Eindhoven university was not written out in its entirety, as was the case for the University of Twente in Enschede and Radboud University in Nijmegen. The logo is limited to the capital letters T and U and the slash symbol followed by a lowercase e. The logo can be seen in the same form on the roof of Vertigo.     

Small job

Harold Spaan, director of the eponymous metal company, says this is just a small job - “with all due respect of course” - but also a fun one. “The TU/e grounds feature more things that were manufactured by us here in Nuenen, albeit not as direct orders, but mostly for subcontractors. And those things are generally not as visible as the logo we’ve been working on.”

According to Spaan, it took about forty hours of work to complete. In order to make the construction vandal-proof, there is another steel framework inside each letter, says Spaan, which provides additional structural support. The entire logo was then welded onto a steel beam. Two vertical pipes will be installed underneath that will enable the entire structure to be firmly anchored into concrete foundations. This will also allow the logo to be lifted out and temporarily moved elsewhere.

According to Tiny Poppe, who supervises this project on behalf of the Communication Expertise Center, the goal was to have the logo in place before the start of the carnival period. Unfortunately, this will not be possible because the company that was going to place the logo has too many projects planned. Poppe: “It’s a shame because we would’ve liked the first pictures to show groups of students in their carnival costumes.  Now, the plan is to place it after Carnival week. In case the logo has to be removed from the KOE field for a short time due to an event taking place there, it will temporarily be placed by the flags next to the pond.

The cost of creating and placing the logo is 13,000 euros.