DTU

DTU wins the Colour Award 2024: The donation goes to ensure a safe introduction to new students

A donation made it possible for tutors to wear purple T-shirts at the start of the semester. This created a sense of security among the new students at DTU, who could easily spot a helping hand.

Study Start 2024 tutors — The tutors ‘KABS’ and ‘Vectors’ at study start 2024

Wednesday 09 October 2024

Rosa Ramskov Føge Jensen

Just before the summer holidays, DTU received the 2024 Colour Award for the transformation and renewal of Eva and Nils Koppel's original university building 208 at DTU Lyngby Campus.

DTU's students had shortly before moved into the building with its colourful and contemporary learning environment, which includes yellow ceiling beams and aubergine-coloured ceilings.

The Danish Master Painters' Colour Award amounted to DKK 50,000, which was shared between DTU and the visual artist Malene Bach. In collaboration with DTU's Campus Service, Malene was creator of the colour project, which included building elements, installations, textiles, and lounge furniture.

To Director of Facilities, Anders B. Møller, at Campus Service there was no doubt that the money should go to the students:

‘We have made a building for the students. Their building has received the 2024 Colour Award, and the students should be focused on. Specifically, the money has been transferred to the pool for the introduction to new students so that they could benefit from it when starting at DTU.’

Colour Award 2024 — Receiving the Colour Award for building 208 at Lyngby Campus, DTU. From left Per Vangekjær, chairman of the Danish Association of Master Painters, Marianne Thorbøll, Project manager at DTU, Visual artist Malene Bach and Ben Kahn, Director of Real Estate at DTU.

A safe study start

The Colour Award made it possible to get uniform purple t-shirts for the volunteer study start coordinators ‘KABS’ and ‘Vectors’ this year.

‘It was important for us who manage the study start programme that the donation was spent on something concrete and didn't fall into a big budget hole. And since the Colour Award rhymes with something colourful, we thought it was appropriate with T-shirts in a colour with power,’ says Jørgen Jensen, Director of Office for Study Programmes and Student Affairs (AUS) with a smile on his face.

The donation from the Colour Award - along with a grant of DKK 10,000 from the trade union IDA – was spent i.a. at the colourful t-shirts so that the new students could always navigate by the purple uniforms and feel in safe hands.

‘It creates real peace of mind for new students to know where to go when they have questions or feel alone. So the donations made a valued difference,’ concludes Jørgen Jensen.

State-of-the-art learning environments

Up-to-date learning environments are the key to attracting talented and dedicated students to DTU. This requires a high standard of physical facilities and technical equipment that supports variation in teaching and working methods.

At the same time, DTU creates space for students to develop academic and social communities on DTU's campuses. Building 208 at Lyngby Campus is the latest example of DTU's work to develop the learning environment of the future and is part of its goal to be a world-class elite university.

You can read and watch videos about building 208 here: Learning environments at DTU (in Danish)