1. Learn what the building and room codes are on your timetable
Every building at UT has its own number code and two- or three-letter abbreviation. For example, Spiegel is SP, Ravelijn is RA, the Horst Tower is HT, and Vrijhof is VR. You can find all the names and abbreviations on this official page.
However, not all is on there. Believe me when I say that it took the combined effort of four third-years to realise that a room starting with ‘Z’ in the Horst complex didn’t mean that the room was situated in the Zuid Horst (ZH), but rather that it was ‘Z’ because it was ‘zuid’ (south) of the Horst ring, which is not necessarily Zuid Horst. A small detail, but we were all late for our meeting with our supervisor that time, so bear that in mind.
Here's a tip: use MazeMap or Google Maps to accurately find building and room names. On Google Maps, if you zoom in to a specific building, you’ll find all room names on there, as the UT floorplan has been specifically integrated into the system.
2. Turn the room numbers into a tiny address
Now that you’ve got a general sense for what letters belong to what buildings, you’ll want a way of finding the room numbers without resorting to apps all the time. Luckily, the room codes tell you the floor and the general area on that floor. Take a code like “RA2314”, for example. This tells you that the room is located in Ravelijn, on the 2nd floor, and finding room 314 is quite easy because there are so many signs in Ravelijn pointing towards the room numbers.
3. Pick an ‘impossible’ building and befriend it early
A lot of new UT students often say that finding anything in the Horst Complex is ‘impossible’. Well, as someone with many years under his belt, I can still say it’s impossible, but I at least know my way around it (mostly).
A lot of your classes might be in the Horst – home to Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Industrial Design Engineering, and more – so why not go there on a day you have nothing to do and just wander around? And the Horst complex is rather... complex: sprawling, multi-winged, and with more rooms than you think can fit into one single building. There’s always a new area that you didn’t know existed whenever you venture through the Horst. So – find the weird shortcuts between the wings. Find the exit behind the classrooms that leads straight to the canteens. Soon, you’ll be creating your own Marauder’s Map of the campus.
4. Pick centralised locations where buildings sprawl around
In my mind, the UT campus is split into four distinct areas: there’s the administrative area, the hanging out/studying area, the lunch area, and the classes area. As a Mechanical Engineering student, this is just how my mind has mapped the campus, so feel free to do whatever you wish, but I like this way because it associates one building with each area:
- The Spiegel serves as the headquarter, housing the Executive Board, HR, and communications, among other departments. Okay, and some lecture halls as well.
- The Vrijhof is the library, and is a frequent meeting spot for students to study and indulge in cultural activities.
- The Waaier contains the university’s two largest lecture halls and is a main lunch spot within the UT.
- The Horst Tower is the tallest building at the UT, and functions as a lecture and tutorial hall for various study programmes.
For me, personally, the rest of the buildings kind of just revolve around these main four. If I didn’t know where Citadel was and someone told me that it’s ‘the grey, round-ish building across the Waaier canteen where everyone has lunch’ I would know instantly what to look for.
5. Walk the ‘boring route’ more than once
The walk from your usual entrance to your usual lecture hall feels boring precisely because your brain has stopped paying attention to it. That's the goal – but it only kicks in after repetition. In the first couple of weeks, deliberately walk the same route a few extra times, even when you don't strictly need to, so it gets etched in before the ‘I'm late and everything looks the same’ panic sets in.
6. Let the weirdness of the campus work for you
At 140 hectares, UT is less ‘university building’ and more ‘small town with lecture halls in it,’ and it's full of oddly specific spots – an amphitheater, an outdoor track, a taxidermied eagle on top of a wind tunnel in West Horst – you know, the usual. Detour past a couple of these early on. They won't help you find a lecture hall directly, but they give your mental map texture – reference points that aren't just ‘another beige corridor’ – which makes the actual academic buildings easier to place in relation to something memorable.
7. When in doubt, follow the crowd
This is the least dignified tip and the most reliable one. If you genuinely can’t find your room and it’s close to starting time, find people who look like they’re headed to the same kind of class and follow at a discrete distance. It was my lifesaver at the start of my studies, and cost me nothing except for a little pride.
