Architects

Jacob Berend Bakema (1914 – 1981),

Bakema joined the department of Public Works in Amsterdam after his studies in Amsterdam and Delft. During the war he joined the bureau of Van Tijen en Maaskant in Rotterdam, and after the war Rotterdams Housing Department. In 1948 he became partner in the bureau Brinkman en Van den Broek (from 1951 bureau Van den Broek en Bakema). Already in 1945 he became involved in the functionalist CIAM-conferences. In 1963 he became professor of architecture in Delft and in 1965 in Hamburg. From 1959 till 1963 he was editor of thet Forum magazine. Bakema in his architecture tried to express human behaviour in a three dimensional way. He committed himself to designing cities, districts and big complexes. Together with Van den Broek he worked on shopping mall de Lijnbaan (1953), the Montesorischool (1957) and was involved with the Feyenoord football stadium (1934). He also designed the Dutch pavillion on the 1970 expo in Osaka and made designs for the city centre of St Louis, Missouri (1955),. Bakema received numerous medals and prizes.

Pieter Blom (1934-1999)

Blom studied at the Academy for Architecture in Amsterdam and developed a pluriform style, in which he tried to integrate social ideas. Already during his studies he designed integrated housing structures, "organised kasbas" in which he showed is vision on future housing, developed from the ground out of individual cells. Remarkable designs were a Pestalozzi children's village and a holiday resort on Inbiza (1965). In 1969 he designed the restaurant of the University of Twenthe a building that was seen to be a fragment of 'Dutch Kasba', with its restaurants, conference rooms and facilities. In 1972 Blom built the Kasba in Hengelo, a "city roof" made out of a fabric of appartments supported by pillars. The Play House and Appartmental Forest he created in Helmond in 1976 is a further development of his tree house, a tilted cube on pillars. In Rotterdam he built the Cube houses near the Old Port dock.

J.A. Brinkman (1902-1949) en Van der Vlugt (1894-1936)

Outstanding representatives of funcitonalism. Although this architectural movement mainly aimed to build mass produced housing for the less fortunate, these Rotterdam partners became more famous for their villas and factories. Most famous is their design for the Van Nelle tea, coffee and tobacco factory. Also famous are their white villas in Rotterdam for among others Van Nelle director Van der Leeuw, his co-director Sonnenfeld and GP Bouvé.

Johannes Hendrik van den Broek, (1898 -1978),

Van den Broek studied at the University of Technology in Delft, where he would become professor from 1947 through 1964 . An important theme in his work is the rationalisation of building houses and the lay out of houses. Already before the war he was active in the functionalist CIAM movement. After the war he was involved with Union International des Architects (UIA, 1948). Van den Broek established his own firm in 1927 in Rotterdam, where his work on housing around Mathenesserplein (1928) and Vroesenlaan (1934) belong to his major pre-war work. In 1934 became parters with J.A. Brinkman, with whom he worked on the Feyenoord football stadium (1934–1939). In 1951 he founded architect firm Van den Broek en Bakema, that became famous for its design of the shopping mall de Lijnbaan in Rotterdam (1949–1953), an influential, but now somewhat outdated contribution to modern town planning. His style is a continuation of prewar funtionalism enriched with influences of LeCorbusier and brutalism. His major works include the University of Technology in Delft (1952–1970), the Montessori college in Rotterdam (1958), churches in Schiedam and Nagele, bank offices in Arnhem and The Hague, housing in Hengelo, Rijswijk, Amsterdam, Eindhoven and Delft, the tower in the Hansa-Viertel in Berlin, the city hall of Marl.

Sir Norman Foster (1935)

The internationally acclaimed architect Foster studied architecture in Manchester and Yale. He started out with Richard en Sue Rodgers and his wife Wendy in "Team4", until he founded Foster en Partners in 1967. The firm has now offices in London, Berlin and Hongkong and has over 500 employees. Foster belongs to the High-Tech architects. This current has a industrial approach to architecture. The most modern industrial techniques are applied and are clearly visible in the designs. The designs emphasize a repetition of industrial modules, in which prefab elements are used. Paramount for Foster is his quest for quality, convinced that the quality of the environment determines the quality of human life. Architecture is led by human needs, which are both material and spiritual in nature. That is why Foster tries to be sensitive to the culture and climate in which his designs are built. Not just from an ecological point of view, but also with an eye to changing demands wit regard to building over time.

In Rotterdam Foster already designed the Marine Safety Rotterdam building and his firm made masterplan for the Wilhelminapier. In 2000 the World Port Center was completed. Internationally Foster became famous with his office for the Commerzbank in Frankfurt , the Hong Kong & Shanghai Bank in Hong Kong, Stansted Airport near London, and the renovation of the Reichtag in Berlin and his winning design for the Millennium Bridge in London.

J. Hoogstad (1930)

Together with his collegues of the same generation Weeber and Quist, this architect reacted against the small scale structures of the structuralist fashion of the 1970s. These rationalists rejected to legitmize architecture from external forces and sources, but from a rational insight in the architectural discipline itself. According to Hoogstad the exterior of buildings gets a disproportionate amount of attention, while for him the spaces within and the way they are perceived are much more important. His motto is: "Architecture is not for picture postcards". His is known for his work on the Dutch Government Department of Housing, Planning and Environment in the Hague (1992). In Rotterdam he built the Unilever Headquarters (1992) and the extension of the Doelen Congress and Concert Centre together with the Academy for Mucis and Dance.(2000)

Huig Aart Maaskant (1907 – 1977),

Dutch architect, had, toghether with his associate Van Tijen a big hand in the reconstruction of Rotterdam. As an independent architect he designed the Groothandelsgebouw Business Centre (1948–1951). In 1957 established the architect firm of Maaskant, Van Dommelen, Kroos en Senf, which designed the Euromast in Rotterdam (1961), the Tomadohuis in Dordrecht (1962), the sport hall of the Dutch Football Association in Zeist (1964) and the office of Johnson Europlant in Mijdrecht (1967). Famous are also the pier at Scheveningen (1961, with Dijk and Apon), the Amsterdam Hilton (1962), the Provincial Hall of Brabant (1971) and the office complex Rivierstaete (1970–1973) in Amsterdam. Maaskant based his architecture on the principles of De Stijl and functionalism, but later evolved to more expressionist forms.

IJacobus Johannes Pieter Oud, (1890 – 1963)

J.J.P. Oud studied in Delft; was an intern with Theodor Fischer in München in 1912 he established himself as an independent architect. In that time he was influenced by Hendrik Petrus Berlage, but in 1915 he met Theo van Doesburg, with whom he founded "De Stijl" movement in 1917. He drastically changed his views on architecture and he tried to apply the strict rules of De Stijl, regarding design and decoration in his architecture.. From his De Stijl days resulted e.g. Café de Unie in Rotterdam. After some years he broke up with the De Stijl. He found Van Doesburg too dogmatic..He evolved to ideas commonly known as the International Style. In this vein he build housing estates in Rotterdam districts like Spangen, Tusschendijken, Oud-Mathenesse en Kiefhoek, where he was city architect from 1918 till 1933, and a couple of semi-detached houses in the Weissenhofsiedlung in Stuttgart (1927). In the second half of 1930s he seemed to changing his strict functionalist ideas in a direction of some sort of classicism, judging his design of the head office of BIM (later Shell office) at the Hague (1938–1942). Soon he committed himself again to fully functionalist architecture like the head office of the Utrecht Insurance in Rotterdam (1954–1960). One of his last designs ws the Congresgebouw in the Hague (completed by his son Hendrik Emile [born 1919]; opened 1969).

Renzo Piano (1937)

Italian architect. Studied in Milan at the politecnico, where he also taught until 1968. In 1970 Piano became partners with the english architect Richard (Lord) Rogers, who also worked with Norman Foster. Like Foster, Piano is a "high-tech" architect. These architects have an industrial approach to architecture. The most modern industrial techniques are applied and made clearly visible. The designs emphasize a repetition of industrial modules, in which prefab elements are used. For Piano technology is the startng point for his designs. He adapts his designs, however, out of care for the comfort and needs of the users. Together with Rogers, Piano designed a number of buildings in Britain and Italy. The most famous work is the Centre Pompidou in Paris (1977). This building was meant to contrast heavily with its traditional environment. Later Piano tried to fit his designs into their environment. Most famous is his Menil Collection Museum in Houston (1981-86), where made great efforts to create natural, but indirect lighting. He also designed a football stadium in Bari (1987-1990) and the Kansai-airport at Osaka (Japan, 1989). The New Metropolis in Amsterdam (1992) is Piano's first design in the Netherlands.

 

Wim G. Quist (1930)

Dutch architect, studied at the Academy for architecture in Amsterdam and was a professor for archtitectural design in Eindhoven (1968–1975) en Royal Architect (1974–1979). His work can be seen as an extension of functionalism, but is also dubbed Rationalism. His clear, non-material like forms are based on a pure application of current construction techniques. He designed industrial buildings like the water installations at Bereplaat (1960–1965) and Kralingen (1974–1976), both in Rotterdam, and the wind tunnel Vollenhove (1975–1980) in the Hague. For the museum Kröller-Müller in Otterlo he designed the extension (1970–1977). In 1985 his Museon in The Hague was opened, based on the form of the Hague municipal museum next door by Berlage. In Rotterdam he also made the Maritiem Museum (1987), de Rotterdamse Schouwburg (1988; incl. interior and furniture) and the office building Willemswerf (1988; met wedged facadel).

Typical for Quist's later designs is the frequent use of diagonals. His more recent projects are the Amstelveen Cobra Museum (1992) and the Museum Beelden aan Zee at Scheveningen (1990) remarkable for its synthesis between nature and art and the seaviews.

 

Sybold van Ravesteyn (1889-1983)

Van Ravesteyn was initially a member of the architectural grouping "De 8", which adhered to functionalism. He found, however, functionalism too rigid and suffocating and thought that visual needs had to be met as well. He started his carreer at Dutch Railways, designing signal towers that got a good reception in functionalist circles. On his foreign travels Van Ravensteyn is captured by monumental designs and bent lines. His designs become more gracious. In 1937 he gets a commission for the design of the Rotterdam Zoo. He worked with modern materials like steel and concrete, but his works are monumental and ornamented nevertheless. Also in his design for the Rotterdam Central Railway station we can see Ravensteyn's style.