Student Experience in Zuid needs to make room for offices and new homes
It’s the end of an era for the Student Experience complex in Zuid. Eight hundred temporary student rooms on De Boelelaan will be replaced by offices and homes. Residents have until the summer of 2026 to find new accommodation.
The Student Experience student building on Boelelaan in Amsterdam-Zuid must be gone by August 2026. This means 800 fewer student studios in the city, at a time when there is already a shortage of student housing. The so-called Ravel Residence, the largest of four Student Experience locations in Amsterdam, must make way for new construction.
Student Experience had a temporary permit for more than eleven years since 2015. The extension requested by the property manager is not possible, according to a spokesperson for the municipality. “The zoning plan is already made and is binding. The plot is designated for housing and offices.”
The students who have to leave their rooms in a year and a half will be given priority for accommodation in the three other Student Experience complexes, which are located on the outskirts of the city. However, those buildings are already fully occupied and have waiting lists. Students currently pay between 628 and 727 euros for the 21m2 rooms at the Ravel Residence, excluding service costs (approximately 150 euros per month). Students can often apply for rent subsidy for the studios, which have a bathroom, kitchen and bedroom.
Expensive office buildings
Prospective International Business Administration student Waleed Thalji (18) is hoping for the best. Thalji, who is from Jordan, has only been living in the large white building for a few months. “I actually wanted to stay here for a long time. I guess I’ll have to find another Student Experience location.”
Maja Karnowska (21) from Poland is outraged about the disappearance of the rooms. “They're definitely going to build expensive office buildings or luxury homes here, aren’t they?” asks the Literary Analysis student, who has been living in her studio for two years. “I don’t understand why the municipality wants to get rid of students.”
The municipality says it understands the annoyance. “You always see this with temporary things that are successful; people get frustrated when they have to go,” says the spokesperson. “But this was always the agreement, and we can’t really get around that.”
However, the residents of the building on the Zuidas are mainly foreign and therefore already have extra difficulty finding accommodation, according to Greek student Isabella Dasyra (23). “I don’t understand the city council at all. It’s already almost impossible to find something affordable in Amsterdam,” says the law student. “And I don't even think Student Experience is cheap.”
Lottery
The Ravel Residence, with its characteristic orange basketball cage on the roof, is made up of detachable studios. It is not yet known whether these will be relocated or demolished. In any case, two buildings will be constructed on the site in 2033 for offices and homes, 135 of which will be for students. For now, Student Experience is focusing in an email to residents in autumn 2024 on the possibilities at their other properties.
However, law student Dasyra is not keen on that idea. “I've heard from everyone who lives here that they want that, so you’ll never get in. Then you have to gamble on a lottery.’ Dasyra herself is looking to leave the city. “Maybe I’ll go to The Hague, where you can find lots of jobs in international law, for example.”
Eighteen-year-old Thalji is going to enter the lottery for another building. He is taking a pre-course at the UvA so that he can transfer to IBA and is very happy with the peace and quiet he experiences at Student Experience. “It’s great; you have everything here, a ping-pong table, a gym around the corner and really nice people. I’ve only just arrived and I’ll have to leave again soon, but I really like being in a building like this. But I’m sure I’ll be fine.”
