A memo on the upcoming changes that was sent around last week says, among other things, that users of the Atlas building are experiencing a lot of nuisance, in particular in the evening. Examples include pollution of the area and verbal incidents. Also, unwanted activities are taking place that entail safety risks, such as smoking inside the building. These problems are also occurring at floor 1 of the Luna building, above the Spar supermarket.

Atlas building

The Atlas building currently opens until 11 PM on weekdays. From 7 PM onwards, the building can exclusively be accessed through the entrance on the west side of the building (see main photo). This allows the receptionist to see exactly who comes in. There are other ways to access Atlas in the evening, however, such as via the footbridge to MetaForum, the footbridge to the Auditorium, the access point on the east side directly behind reception and the connecting door in the underground bike shed. These make it possible to enter the building without being spotted by the receptionist. Because of Atlas’s ‘open nature’, all upper floors are freely accessible and the receptionist isn’t aware of what’s happening there.

According to the memo, the lecture rooms in Atlas are only used to a limited extent in the evening. Size-wise, Atlas 0.820 is a special room because it accommodates 370 people. In 2022, this room was used 35 times in the evening. Those who wrote the memo say the evening occupancy rate of the meeting rooms in Atlas was moderate. It can be assumed they were mostly used by students.

On to the bars inside of Atlas, which are used by study associations Industria, Intermate and Lucid. They are open until 8 PM on Thursday evenings, followed by a period of max two hours for clean-up. The University Club on floor 1 on the south side is only open in the evening if there are dinner reservations.

It has been decided to close Atlas at 8 PM for the rest of the year starting on September 4. This applies to all access points, including the footbridges. At 6 PM the first-floor access points on the north, south and east side will already be closed, as well as the one in the underground bicycle shed, ensuring that the bulk of the visitors will pass through reception on their way to the west side exit.

Location management will make arrangements with the bar administrators with respect to opening the building for the weekly bar night. Arrangements will also be made with Vermaat catering company on the arrival and departure of University Club guests. The opening times of the building will exceptionally be adapted for special gatherings and exams in the evening.

Auditorium

The Auditorium currently opens until 10 PM from Monday thru Thursday and until 8 PM on Fridays. Throughout the whole of 2022, there were about forty bookings at the Auditorium that weren’t directly teaching-related and that ended past 8 PM. Those bookings were mostly made by Studium Generale and the cultural associations and took place at the Blauwe Zaal. There is no alternative room on the TU/e campus available in the evening. Team Audiovisual Support indicates that student workstations in the Auditorium are hardly being used in the evenings. However, as the building has many entrances, it’s hard to keep track of exactly who enters and leaves. This makes the Audiovisual Support employees feel unsafe sometimes.

Education & Student Affairs (ESA) expects an increase in the number of students in the coming years, which is likely to result in the 9^th and 10^th lecture hours being used more often. The 10^th lecture hour ends at 7:15 PM. ESA indicates the building needs to be open for teaching until 8 PM. In exam periods evening exams are regularly scheduled, lasting from 6 to 9:30 PM.

It has been decided to close the Auditorium at 8 PM on all weekdays in teaching and exam periods, as of September 4. This applies to all access points, i.e. including footbridges. Opening hours will be modified for special evening gatherings, such as SG and cultural association activities, as well as for evening exams. During summer vacation, the Auditorium will close at 6 PM.

Neuron building

Neuron, located on Laplaceplein, currently opens until 6 PM on weekdays and until 11 PM during exam periods. It is currently closed in the evening. However, more and more requests have been coming in to extend the evening opening hours for Neuron. AI research institute EAISI, one of the building’s occupants, regularly organizes evening gatherings there, and the memo also says students would like to have increased access to the building to study and convene.

This is why Neuron will close at 11 PM, the same time as MetaForum, on weekdays as of September 4. However, access to Neuron from the side of the Traverse building, via the footbridge, will close at 6 PM. This provides the receptionist with a better overview of who’s entering and leaving. Neuron doesn’t have any meeting rooms, but it does have nineteen DBL rooms accommodating ten people each. It these aren’t used for teaching in the evening, students and staff can reserve them one week in advance.

Plint in Luna

The Plint on floor 1 of Luna currently opens 24/7. In the evening, the rooms on floor 1 are used by the cultural associations. These rooms and the seats in the hallway, however, are freely accessible to anyone until Café Hubble closes (at 2 AM at the latest).

Special cases

In exceptional cases, after-hour access to the abovementioned buildings will be granted to staff of the relevant management units, provided they have approval from the director of their own unit. This involves submitting a request to location management of the corresponding building, which is in possession of the director’s approval. The modified opening hours for the various buildings will be evaluated at the beginning of 2024.