The Thermo Technical Institute of the Catholic University of Leuven (K.U.Leuven, Belgium) was constructed for the technical education of its engineers. During the erection between 1926 and 1931 the Institute accommodated a lab for mechanics, electricity and thermal machines. The didactic machine collection served during fifty years for the preparation of many engineer students for the industry. Since some decades the Institute lost its educational meaning but now functions as a ‘Museum of Historical Engines’.
During eighty years the Institute developed into a monument of industrial archaeology and at the same time as a surprising part of the scientific and academic heritage of the University of Leuven.
It all began in 1863 when the Special Schools for Engineers at the Catholic University of Leuven (K.U.Leuven, Belgium) were established. These schools were organised to the model of the École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures of Paris. The first engineers at the University of Leuven graduated in 1868. During the last decades of the nineteenth century the University evolved from a common educational institute to a centre for scientific research. New laboratories for chemistry, physics, electrotechnics, zoology, anatomy, mineralogy, palaeontology etc. were established.
The classes and practices of electrotechnics were first given in the Electrotechnic Institute, which was accommodated in sixteenth century premises. The K.U.Leuven experienced in 1899 that the education on electricity was not sufficient anymore and it became essential to establish a Higher School for Electricity to educate engineers like the (at the time) rival Universities in Liège and Mons. So in 1900 the University started to build a new Institute for Electro Mechanics with the intention to provide a modern education curriculum for the new subject of engineer-electrician. Already ten years later some professors launched a new idea to establish a large new Institute for Mechanics with labs for practice-bases research. The outbreak of World War I made the immediate realisation of this initiative impossible. After the war new plans were made, but financial problems postponed the creation of a new Institute. Finally in 1925 the engineer-architect Emile Goethals received the assignment to design three large buildings. The first building was for industrial chemistry and metallurgy with different classes like a drawing studio, an archive, a museum and two auditoria. The second building should serve for labs and workshops for chemistry and metallurgy, with rooms equipped with industrial measurements for the practice of industrial chemistry and metallurgy. Last but not least, the third building was destined for the Institute of Mechanics with labs for mechanical engineering, electricity and thermal machines. All these new academic technical laboratories were specially build and organised to teach students to solving industrial problems.
The Institute of Mechanics was designed for illustrative and experimental education. Therefore the building had no common classrooms and only labs. Professor Albert Coppens was from the beginning of the creation of the Institute closely involved with the design and the organisation. He went on a study trip to be inspired by similar institutes in Zurich (Switzerland), Delft (The Netherlands) and Belgium. As a conclusion of his trip, Coppens emphasized for the design of the Institute that the building should have an adequate height, enough and perfect incidence of light, heating systems, pumps, customary industrial machines, ventilation in the cellar, an office and closets to put away instruments.
Fig 1. Entrance of the Institute of Mechanics (Thermo Technical Institute), 1970. Archive Thermo Technical Institute
To organise the laboratories as functional as possible and for the purpose of the scientific education, the architect Emile Goethals only designed the volume and casing of the building. He designed the building as an industrial complex with reference to the art deco. The whole complex was constructed in brick with many windows on a bluestone plinth. The layout and the finishing of the interior were decided by professor Coppens and his colleague professor Paul Daubresse. They wanted to create a laboratory in which the students could experiment with the then technology. Further they both decided which machines should be installed, where and how. For the functioning of some machines extra foundations and a 35m high chimney had to be constructed. The pipes and measuring instruments of the machines must be visibly placed in the space and against the walls so the students could measure the used steam, cooling-water etc. during the practice. Everything inside the Institute was deliberately organised for practice-based scientific research and experiments.
Fig. 2. Professors Coppens and Daubresse during the installation of the Bollinckx steam engine in the laboratory of thermal machines, 1930. University archive K.U.Leuven
Originally the Institute of Mechanics accommodated a lab for electricity (sous-station), a lab for mechanical engineering (atelier mécanique), a heating room (sale des chaudières) and a lab for thermal machines (sale de machine). 
Fig. 3. The first floor of the Institute of Mechanics, 1929. Archive Thermo Technical Institute
The lab for electricity was composed of two rooms and was arranged for the practice electricity and for the electricity supply of the Institute and the other two buildings. It was provided with all possible measuring instruments: ampere meters, volt meters, watt meters, phase meters and counters, so the students could observe and interpret the working and data. In 1952 this lab moved to a new Institute for Electrotechnic. The original instruments and meters in the two rooms disappeared to make place for a full-equipped classroom.
The lab for mechanical engineering counted two floors containing a laboratory, a forge, an installation for warmth treatment for metal instruments, a small stockroom and a place for autogenous and electric welding and a flame cutter. In 1936 this laboratory also moved to another building. After World War II the University Workshop moved in and extended the building. Finally in 2002 the place was renovated into a lab for vehicle technology and lightweight constructions and a new lab for combustion engines.
The heating room was located next to the lab for thermal machines. The two places were separated by a steamer covered in brickwork which provided energy to the different machines. The room had actually a more technical function then a didactical one, because it supplied heating to all the new buildings. In the room stood a semi fix steam machine made at the Ateliers de Construction de la Meuse. Since some decades the steam machine and the heating room became out of function. In 2008 the steam machine was replaced in the lab of thermal machines and in the room an auditorium was installed.
The impressive lab for thermal machines existed mainly out of a huge machine hall on the first floor of the building. Nowadays this authentic hall accommodate still its original machines like the 170 HP Bollinckx duplex steam engine (1926), the 26 HP small Bollinckx steam engine (1900), the twin cylinder 190 HP steam engine (1926) and the from producer gas converted 25 HP diesel engine (1926). Most of the machines were placed on a pedestal. Originally professor Coppens installed more pedestals then the number of machines in consideration of new acquisitions in the further. Some of these acquisitions are the BMW Bramo 323 A Fafnir engine (1936), the original Whittle W2/700 jet engine (1945), the Rolls-Royce Derwent VIII 1.5 ton jet engine (1950) and the Orenda IX 3 ton jet engine (1954). The floor with its characteristic black and white tiles had two rectangular openings to the ground floor. A roller bridge with an electric slide mechanism underneath the saddle roof could move over the length of the building and replace the different machines from the ground floor to the first floor or from pedestal to pedestal. Professor Coppens composed this whole ensemble of machines to educate the future engineers in practice of relative measurements in the industrial physics and in the applied mechanics. And also to guarantee the engineer students a perfect work instrument for measure exercises and personal research.
Fig. 4. Measure exercises in the machine hall, 1931. University archive K.U.Leuven.
The labs for electricity and mechanics disappeared in the Institute of Mechanics around 1950. Only the lab of thermal machines remained at its original place with its original machines and function. Therefore the Institute was renamed into the Thermo Technical Institute.
The didactic machine collection of the Thermo Technical Institute served during fifty years to prepare many engineer students for the industry. Since some decades the Institute lost it educative meaning and functions now as a ‘Museum of Historical Engines’. The space between the historical engines became the setting for promotions and presentations for scientific symposia and festivities. It has to be mentioned that most machines are still in working condition, which makes the machine collection quite unique. The visitor can have the impressive experience to behold and to listen to the sound of a steam engine in action. As a conclusion it can be said that during eighty years the Institute developed into a monument of industrial archaeology and at the same time as a surprising part of the academic heritage of the University of Leuven.
MARIEKE JAENEN, ICOMOS Belgium (Flanders-Brussels)
Art historian - Master in Conservation
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