Photo Roelof Kleis The new name for the Dialogue Centre was revealed during the Opening of the Academic Year yesterday. With the all-encompassing name Omnia, Marissa van den Berg (Corporate Human Resources) won the naming competition that was launched this spring. Omnia was selected from the 218 unique names that were submitted.
WUR is a beautiful organisation that connects everyone
Marissa van den Berg, submitter of the name Omnia
Marissa van den Berg calls it ‘an honour’ that the building will carry the name she suggested. ‘I received a call yesterday and was congratulated. It took me a while to figure out what it was about because the competition was in March. But I am very pleased.’ According to Van den Berg Omnia covers the way the building is to be used: as a place where ‘all forms of meetings and discussions are to be hosted.’ ‘Omnia is derived from omnis, which means each’, she explains. ‘WUR is a beautiful organisation that connects everyone.’
Omnia is the Latin word for everything. It is the plural or omnis, meaning each. Omnia says everything but was not the jury’s first choice. Following a complicated process, the jury suggested two different names before the summer. These were rejected by the executive board as they did not cover the full scope of activities that are to take place in the building.
Perfect name
The jury made every conceivable effort to make a new shortlist before the start of the new academic year. Out of the four shortlisted names, the executive board selected Omnia. EB chair Louise Fresco says Omnia is ‘the perfect name for a building in which everything converges: the link between WUR and society.’
Some of the remaining 217 names may still be used as names for some of the rooms in Omnia. If all goes according to plan, the building is to be opened for use in the spring of next year. Read all about the use and design of the building in Resource Magazine.
