1950 Architecture at Delft University of Technology
Scketch Herman Hertzberger during holiday Italy in 1956.
'In Delft I attended Granpré Molière’s lectures and history classes taught by Ter Kuile, the most monotonous professor you can imagine. He strudged chronologically through the Greek and Roman periods, Gothicism, the Renaissance and the Baroque period. I can not remember him ever having gone beyond that; in fact, he believed all subsequent styles to be mere imitations anyway. But I absorbed it all and soon travelled to Italy on my own to see it with my own eyes. That trip made a lasting impression on me. I felt a bit like a martyr throughout my university years. No one dared question out loud why entire worlds, like those of Le Cobursier, Duiker and Rietveld, were never broached. Duintjer was the only one that displayed a lot of understanding. I had a clear ambition: modern architecture.'
Church: Santa Maria della Consolazione in Todi, Italy, 12th century.
Kloos. Hertzberger's Amsterdam, 2007
1950 Architecture at Delft University of Technology
Scketch Herman Hertzberger during holiday Italy in 1956.
'In Delft I attended Granpré Molière’s lectures and history classes taught by Ter Kuile, the most monotonous professor you can imagine. He strudged chronologically through the Greek and Roman periods, Gothicism, the Renaissance and the Baroque period. I can not remember him ever having gone beyond that; in fact, he believed all subsequent styles to be mere imitations anyway. But I absorbed it all and soon travelled to Italy on my own to see it with my own eyes. That trip made a lasting impression on me. I felt a bit like a martyr throughout my university years. No one dared question out loud why entire worlds, like those of Le Cobursier, Duiker and Rietveld, were never broached. Duintjer was the only one that displayed a lot of understanding. I had a clear ambition: modern architecture.'
Church: Santa Maria della Consolazione in Todi, Italy, 12th century.
Kloos. Hertzberger's Amsterdam, 2007
1958 Back in Amsterdam
Herman Hertzberger, attic Stadhouderskade (1959).
'In 1958 I graduated from Delft, and my wife and I moved to an attic on Stadhouderskade in Amsterdam. The house belonged to the music critic Janos Reichenfeld, and the composer-musicologist Marius Flothuis also lived there. I started my studio from our house, but soon after, when we were asked to develop the plans for the student house, I moved it to Jons Daniël Meijerplein. I still had a drawing table at Stadhouderskade. It was in the attic, under a skylight which leaked. At night before going to bed, I always moved the drawing table from under it. The only source of heating in the attic was a round iron stove. The editorial meetings of Forum were held there. Jaap Bakema, Aldo van Eyck, Joop Hardy, Dick Apon, Gerrit Boon and others would faithfully congregate there one evening per week. Right after I finished my studies, Aldo called me. I was so nervous I almost dropped the phone. I could not believe this man was calling me! He said: 'We would like you to join us as a junior staff member, so how would you like to be on our editorial board?' I had never been appointed secretary or anything for that matter, but I could sense that someone should take on that task.'
Kloos. Hertzberger's Amsterdam, 2007
1958 Graduation under guidance of Duintjer
Secondary school, graduation plan, Herman Hertzberger.
'Eventually I graduated under guidance of Duintjer, an important architect for the city of Amsterdam. He is especially well-known as the architect of the Netherlandse Bank, the Algemene Bank Nederland on Vijzelstraat and Schiphol airport. I had tremendous respect for Duintjer, and there are still designs by him that I find extraordinary beautiful, especially his older works, such as the magnificent Christelijk Lyceum in Buitenveldert (1963), with its square windows and projecting roofs. His work has something unique, a kind of lyricism and a particular élégance. I learned a great deal from him because he knew how to listen and never commanded me how I should do things. Graduating itself was a bit of a drama. The high school was not my best design. It was a good building, but it was also extremely clinical and factory-like. It was an impersonal design, not a plan that I think back on with pleasure. I was much inspired by Marcel Breuer at the time and was especially enarmoured with Arne Jacobsen. I realize now, of course, that Arne Jacobsen was an offspring of Mies van der Robe, but his work was far more elegant and also somewhat more refined. I was especially influenced by him.'
Kloos. Hertzberger's Amsterdam
1958 Graduation under guidance of Duintjer
Secondary school, graduation plan, Herman Hertzberger.
'Eventually I graduated under guidance of Duintjer, an important architect for the city of Amsterdam. He is especially well-known as the architect of the Netherlandse Bank, the Algemene Bank Nederland on Vijzelstraat and Schiphol airport. I had tremendous respect for Duintjer, and there are still designs by him that I find extraordinary beautiful, especially his older works, such as the magnificent Christelijk Lyceum in Buitenveldert (1963), with its square windows and projecting roofs. His work has something unique, a kind of lyricism and a particular élégance. I learned a great deal from him because he knew how to listen and never commanded me how I should do things. Graduating itself was a bit of a drama. The high school was not my best design. It was a good building, but it was also extremely clinical and factory-like. It was an impersonal design, not a plan that I think back on with pleasure. I was much inspired by Marcel Breuer at the time and was especially enarmoured with Arne Jacobsen. I realize now, of course, that Arne Jacobsen was an offspring of Mies van der Robe, but his work was far more elegant and also somewhat more refined. I was especially influenced by him.'
Kloos. Hertzberger's Amsterdam
1958 Winning design Student housing Weesperstraat
Student housing Weesperstraat, Herman Hertzberger, Tjakko Hazewinkel.
'The student house project went through several stages. We won with a design that was actually quite boring. I decided that a different approach had to be taken and did something that is worth mentioning: I created an opening on the fith storey, where residential unites for married students would be built, at a height equal to the nearby canal houses. By introducing an ‘elevated street’, inspired by the raised open galleries in Michiel Brinkman’s flats in Spangen, the building not only became more interesting, but also more in tune with the old city landscape. Creating an opening halfway up a building to give it an identity at the level of the city has become an important and recurrent theme in my work. The completed building refelects many elements of my past: the influence of Le Corbusier and Aldo van Eyck, the hospitable ground floor, the orientation towards the city, or better yet, the interface with the cityscape through its use of proportion and space, which were lessons drawn from Spangen. At the same time, the building is a response to a drastic intervention in the city, namely the construction of the new Weesperstraat.'
Kloos. Hertzberger's Amsterdam, 2007
1959 FORUM period 1959-1963
FORUM cover no. 5, 1962.
'My time at Forum was a great experience and without any doubt the equivalent of a kind of postgraduate education. I consider it a great pity, and actually quite strange, that one has never bothered to make a study of it. I learned a great deal during this period - how to formulate things as precisely as possible, for example. I also had to translate. Usually I began with a rough draft, which I then shared with Aldo. The way he helped me was truly fantastic. Those were the most special moments I had with him. He was an exceptionally good teacher. What I learned more than anything at Forum, is that I learned to mediate. For example, Aldo would send me over to Jurriaan Schrofer’s (the designer) with an insulting message criticizing his work. I would return with Jurriaan’s equally insulting reply stating that Aldo could go to hell. What I did not know at the time, was that Aldo was having an affair with Jurriaan’s girlfriend, the photographer Violette Cornelius, and that there was much more behind it than met the eye. I was as green as grass, and in my naïveté allowed myself to be used as a messenger.'
Kloos. Hertzberger's Amsterdam, 2007
1959 FORUM period 1959-1963
FORUM cover no. 5, 1962.
'My time at Forum was a great experience and without any doubt the equivalent of a kind of postgraduate education. I consider it a great pity, and actually quite strange, that one has never bothered to make a study of it. I learned a great deal during this period - how to formulate things as precisely as possible, for example. I also had to translate. Usually I began with a rough draft, which I then shared with Aldo. The way he helped me was truly fantastic. Those were the most special moments I had with him. He was an exceptionally good teacher. What I learned more than anything at Forum, is that I learned to mediate. For example, Aldo would send me over to Jurriaan Schrofer’s (the designer) with an insulting message criticizing his work. I would return with Jurriaan’s equally insulting reply stating that Aldo could go to hell. What I did not know at the time, was that Aldo was having an affair with Jurriaan’s girlfriend, the photographer Violette Cornelius, and that there was much more behind it than met the eye. I was as green as grass, and in my naïveté allowed myself to be used as a messenger.'
Kloos. Hertzberger's Amsterdam, 2007
1959 Andere gedachte
Covers of FORUM no. 7, 1959 and July 1969.
'Forum was not calling for another architecture, but for another attitude towards architecture. Bakema, with his large architectural office and immense supply of energy which had the designs rolling out non-stop, continually hammered on about relationships. By this he meant that he sought to organize his built structures so that people would be made as aware as possible of the presence of others and of how this presence related to their own. Here, along with the form of funtion, resided the ‘funtion of the form’. Van Eyck’s architecture was not a phenomenon in its own right, but rather one facet of the comprehensive, if not all-inclusive world of art where absolute equality reigned among everything ever made, whatever the place and time. For him, there was no distance, either in time or in space. It was not a ‘new idea’ that Forum professed to propagate, but ‘another idea’, in other words looking at the existing one in another way, playing it in another light. This relocates the emphasis to what it is that remains more or less unchanged, so that the variations therein stand out all the more forcefully.'
Hertzberger. Articulations, 1999: p. 15
1960 Matchboxes
Matchbox schemes.
'Also at Forum, I learned how to deal with photos at Forum. I learned that photos taken from a high vantage point should be placed at the bottom of the page, whereas photos with a low horizon are best placed at the top of the page. I also learned that Jurrian Schroferm the designer, has a gigantic table where you could spread out hundreds of photos. I recall him looking over all the ones that I had collected and asking me if I could not comeup with a simpler method of conveying my message. That is when I came up with my matchbox idea, which he was immediately enthusiastic about. He went for it hook, line and sinker. Without him, I never would have managed to get it off the ground. That is real collaboration. A year later, Aldo said: “Ah yes, those matchboxes. It would have been better if you had used those photos after all.'
Kloos. Hertzberger's Amsterdam, 2007
1960 Matchboxes
Matchbox schemes.
'Also at Forum, I learned how to deal with photos at Forum. I learned that photos taken from a high vantage point should be placed at the bottom of the page, whereas photos with a low horizon are best placed at the top of the page. I also learned that Jurrian Schroferm the designer, has a gigantic table where you could spread out hundreds of photos. I recall him looking over all the ones that I had collected and asking me if I could not comeup with a simpler method of conveying my message. That is when I came up with my matchbox idea, which he was immediately enthusiastic about. He went for it hook, line and sinker. Without him, I never would have managed to get it off the ground. That is real collaboration. A year later, Aldo said: “Ah yes, those matchboxes. It would have been better if you had used those photos after all.'
Kloos. Hertzberger's Amsterdam, 2007
1960 Bakema and Van Eyck
Jaap Bakema in his office and Aldo van Eyck at the Otterloo meeting, 1959.
'I could write a book about the incredibly complex relationship between Jaap Bakema and Aldo van Eyck. They had a peculiar love-hate relationship. In some strange way, they feared each other, and if you had them both sitting at a table, then they would provoke and rile each other up in the most underhanded way. But they were also willing to go through fire for each other and went to great lengths to defend each other in the presence of others. Aldo never allowed me to criticize Jaap’s work, despite the fact that he constantly did it himself. Both of them taught me to be critical in my appraisal of architecture. They also taught me to recognize the beauty of certain things, to determine what may be wrong with them and why. Aldo’s incredible dialectic and Jaap’s spontaneous, sharp criticism were indispensable to me. Jaap was an extraordinary, albeit underrated man able to perceive things that others could not see. Thanks to both, I also had excellent relations with other members of Team 10.'
Kloos. Hertzberger's Amsterdam, 2007
1962 Extension laundry factory Linmij
Photographer: Jan Versnel.
'This workshop of a laundry factory was built on top of an early 20th-century building. It was conceived of as the first phase of extension. Other departments were expected to grow in the near future, leading to further extensions, so that in the end the old building, which had no particular character of its own, would be overgrown by units capable of giving identity to the greater whole. Demonstrative use was made of prefabricated parts and glass bricks. This in apparent contrast to the old brick building which forms the basis of the new lightweight structures. Given its solid construction, the existing building could act as the foundations for the new-build; call it an artificial rock formation. The new formation would steadily overrun the existing. While the new would transfer its colour to the old, the old would define the new. Old and new remain themselves, and even clarify each other: each gives the other identity.'
Hertzberger. Lessons in architecture. 010 publishers: Rotterdam, 1996
1962 Extension laundry factory Linmij
Photographer: Jan Versnel.
'This workshop of a laundry factory was built on top of an early 20th-century building. It was conceived of as the first phase of extension. Other departments were expected to grow in the near future, leading to further extensions, so that in the end the old building, which had no particular character of its own, would be overgrown by units capable of giving identity to the greater whole. Demonstrative use was made of prefabricated parts and glass bricks. This in apparent contrast to the old brick building which forms the basis of the new lightweight structures. Given its solid construction, the existing building could act as the foundations for the new-build; call it an artificial rock formation. The new formation would steadily overrun the existing. While the new would transfer its colour to the old, the old would define the new. Old and new remain themselves, and even clarify each other: each gives the other identity.'
Hertzberger. Lessons in architecture. 010 publishers: Rotterdam, 1996
1964 De Drie Hoven
De Drie Hoven (1964-1974).
Photo: Beton-Verlag.
'When the student’s house was all but complete, Mr. Van Schaik, the secretary of the Dutch Centre of Housing for the Elderly (NCHB) at the time, approached me about a project. He was specifically looking for a young architect. The project concerned a retirement home, the programme which was based on a report by the physician Querido. The objective was to create a real home, one that was warm and welcoming, where elderly and handicapped people with different care needs could live together and for as long as possible. A building in which all sections converged at a large central square containing a launderette, a shop, a café, a library, an open-air terrace, fish, birds and a place to play billiards, with the management of the home located nearby. The building was set up in a way that was unique in the world. It was a huge success, which gave me a special feeling. For an architect, it is very satisfying to come up with a beautiful form, but the thing that has always most attracted me is the social substratum of a given project.This was an influential factor in De Drie Hoven, more so than in any of my other buildings.'
Kloos. Hertzberger's Amsterdam, 2007
1966 Montessori school Delft
'The classrooms of this school are conceived as autonomous units, little homes as it were, all situated along the school hall, as a communal street. The teacher, ‘mother’, of each house decides, together with the children, what the place will look like, and therefore what kind of atmosphere it will have. Each classroom also has its own cloakroom, instead of the usual communal space for the whole school, which usually means that all the wall-space is taken up by rows of pegs so that it cannot be used for anything else. It is quite conceivable for the children in each class to keep their ‘home’ clean, like birds their nest, thereby giving expression to the emotional bond with their daily environment. A ‘safe nest’ - familiar surroundings where you know that your things are safe and where you can concentrate without being disturbed by others - is something that each individual needs as much as each group. Without this, there can be no collaboration with others. There can be no adventure without a home-base to return to: everyone needs some kind of nest to fall back on.'
Hertzberger. Lessons in Architecture 1, 1996
1966 Montessori school Delft
'The classrooms of this school are conceived as autonomous units, little homes as it were, all situated along the school hall, as a communal street. The teacher, ‘mother’, of each house decides, together with the children, what the place will look like, and therefore what kind of atmosphere it will have. Each classroom also has its own cloakroom, instead of the usual communal space for the whole school, which usually means that all the wall-space is taken up by rows of pegs so that it cannot be used for anything else. It is quite conceivable for the children in each class to keep their ‘home’ clean, like birds their nest, thereby giving expression to the emotional bond with their daily environment. A ‘safe nest’ - familiar surroundings where you know that your things are safe and where you can concentrate without being disturbed by others - is something that each individual needs as much as each group. Without this, there can be no collaboration with others. There can be no adventure without a home-base to return to: everyone needs some kind of nest to fall back on.'
Hertzberger. Lessons in Architecture 1, 1996
1967 Diagoon experimental housing, Delft
'The most important principle in this design was that the houses were not finished when the contractors handed them over, so that residents could personally decide how to organize the layout of their homes. The structure of the houses served as a framework within which many variations were possible. Each house consisted of two fixed cores, with a number of entresol layers with residential modules that could be used for a range of functions. Unlike a ‘normal’ house, there was not a strict division between living and sleeping quarters. One section of each layer could be separated off in order to create a room; the remaining space formed a kind of internal balcony that surrounded the whole living space. These balconies could be furnished according to the wishes of family members, and together they constituted the living space. Since residents were able to organize and finish their own homes, this resulted in a diversity of spatial qualities with, for example, diagonal sightlines.'
Vletter, Martien de. De Kritiese Jaren Zeventig: Architectuur en Stedenbouw in Nederland 1968 – 1982. NAi Uitgevers, Rotterdam, 2004
1968 A workshop for 1000 people
'At the end of the sixties, it was bound to happen that something of the emancipatory waves then cleansing Dutch society of the conventions that had been bogging it down, would rub off on something as formal as an office building. The row upon row of neat little rooms to either side of endless corridors no longer fitted the bill, if only because of the emergent more open collaborative networks as were being etched in ever sharper profile in the then new foms of organization. We called it ‘a workplace for a thousand people’; away with those corridors and rabbit hutches! It became one great horizontal expanse, where everybody has their place in a ‘settlement’ of tower-like units - more a city than a building. Instead of rooms, groups of up to four users share open balcony-like working platforms that overlook one another across a common void extending throughout the complex. The surprising effects obtained by the people who work at Centraal Beheer in the way they had arranged and personalized their office spaces with colours of their own choice, potted plants and objects they are fond of, is not merely the logical consquence of the fact that the interior finishing was deliberately left to the users of the building.'
Hertzberger. Lessons in Architecture 2, 1999
1968 A workshop for 1000 people
'At the end of the sixties, it was bound to happen that something of the emancipatory waves then cleansing Dutch society of the conventions that had been bogging it down, would rub off on something as formal as an office building. The row upon row of neat little rooms to either side of endless corridors no longer fitted the bill, if only because of the emergent more open collaborative networks as were being etched in ever sharper profile in the then new foms of organization. We called it ‘a workplace for a thousand people’; away with those corridors and rabbit hutches! It became one great horizontal expanse, where everybody has their place in a ‘settlement’ of tower-like units - more a city than a building. Instead of rooms, groups of up to four users share open balcony-like working platforms that overlook one another across a common void extending throughout the complex. The surprising effects obtained by the people who work at Centraal Beheer in the way they had arranged and personalized their office spaces with colours of their own choice, potted plants and objects they are fond of, is not merely the logical consquence of the fact that the interior finishing was deliberately left to the users of the building.'
Hertzberger. Lessons in Architecture 2, 1999
1970 Back in Delft
Herman Hertzberger, Nieuwe Herengracht (1971),
'In 1970 I was asked to teach at the Faculty of Architecture at the Technical University in Delft. It seems to me that it is not very important that you say something should be green instead of blue, but it is the way you are saying it, and to impress people with the fact - it really has to move you. I know that people are sometimes a little bit slow-motion, but enthusiasm and energy can be transmitted. That works with people. As soon as they work with energy, they find things, the thinking machine is going to work.'
Glazar, T en Mimica, V. “Misli o architekturi prije nego je pocnes raditi / Think about architecture before making it”. Oris, nr. 43, 2007
1973 Vredenburg music centre
'An attempt was made to avoid the traditional form of a concert hall in the sense of a ‘temple of music’and instead to arrive at a less formal, less awe-inspiring and therefore hopefully an atmosphere that is more inviting to the uninitiated. Besides revolutionizing the overall ‘image’, also the ‘mechanism’ of accessibility has been drastically altered. You do not enter by way of an imposing main entrance, you enter step by step. First you are in a covered passage, which leads to the many entrances (as if you were going into a department store), then you find yourself in the foyers of the Music Center, from where you proceed to the actual auditorium. The large numbers of entrances along the passges (or arcade) and also directly on the square - when they are all open - make the building as a whole temporarily part of the street. And indeed, that is how the building functions during the weekly free concerts in the lunch-hour. On those days you see shoppers strolling into the building, often surprised, often listening attentively although they have not come to hear the concert, and sometimes just taking a short cut to the next street.'
Hertzberger. Lessons in Architecture 1, 1996
1973 Vredenburg music centre
'An attempt was made to avoid the traditional form of a concert hall in the sense of a ‘temple of music’and instead to arrive at a less formal, less awe-inspiring and therefore hopefully an atmosphere that is more inviting to the uninitiated. Besides revolutionizing the overall ‘image’, also the ‘mechanism’ of accessibility has been drastically altered. You do not enter by way of an imposing main entrance, you enter step by step. First you are in a covered passage, which leads to the many entrances (as if you were going into a department store), then you find yourself in the foyers of the Music Center, from where you proceed to the actual auditorium. The large numbers of entrances along the passges (or arcade) and also directly on the square - when they are all open - make the building as a whole temporarily part of the street. And indeed, that is how the building functions during the weekly free concerts in the lunch-hour. On those days you see shoppers strolling into the building, often surprised, often listening attentively although they have not come to hear the concert, and sometimes just taking a short cut to the next street.'
Hertzberger. Lessons in Architecture 1, 1996
1973 First publication
'The fact that we put ‘form’ in a central position with respect to such notions as ‘space’ or ‘architecture’, means in itself no more than a shifting of accent. What we are talking about here is in fact another notion of form than that which premises a formal and unchanging relationship between object and viewer and maintains this. It is not an outward form wrapped around the object that matters to us, but form in the sense of inbuilt capacity and potential vehicle of significance. Form can be filled in with significance, but can also be deprived of it again, depending on the use that is made of it, through the values we attach to or add to it, or which we even deprive it of; all this dependant on the way in which the users and the form react to and play on each other. The case we want to put is that it is this capacity to absorb, carry and convey significance that defines what form can bring about in the users, and conversely, what the users can bring about in the form. What matters is the interaction of form and users, what they convey to each other and bring about in each other, and how they mutually take possession of each other.'
Herman Hertzberger, 'Homework for more hospitable form', FORUM XXIV-3, 1973
1975 Grid of New York City, USA
'In the late 1970s, I spent a lot of time working on the Haarlemmer Houttuinen, and especially on the Vredenburg Music Center, which I still consider one of my greatest achievements. But it was one that also required a tremendous amount of effort and hard work. I needed a kind of spiritual breather after that, and in the run-up to the Apollo Schools project I experienced a bit of a crisis as far as designing was concerned.Though I never actually stopped working, the Apollo Schools project was in some respects a new beginning for me. There was a crisis of confidence in architecture at that time and much to think about. Structuralism, in terms of theory anyway, had been on the rise, and I think it is fair to say that in architecture I played a major part in its development and gave it a certain impetus. It essentially came down to the following: every building should have a universal support structure, a universal skeleton able to support any given programme but just as easily able to dispose of it. The most beautiful exmaple is Manhattan’s grid, which is an extremely effective design that opens itself up to an enourmous range of possibilities. I once compared it to chess. The rules are universal, but possibilities for the next move are endless.'
Kloos. Hertzberger's Amsterdam, 2007
1975 Grid of New York City, USA
'In the late 1970s, I spent a lot of time working on the Haarlemmer Houttuinen, and especially on the Vredenburg Music Center, which I still consider one of my greatest achievements. But it was one that also required a tremendous amount of effort and hard work. I needed a kind of spiritual breather after that, and in the run-up to the Apollo Schools project I experienced a bit of a crisis as far as designing was concerned.Though I never actually stopped working, the Apollo Schools project was in some respects a new beginning for me. There was a crisis of confidence in architecture at that time and much to think about. Structuralism, in terms of theory anyway, had been on the rise, and I think it is fair to say that in architecture I played a major part in its development and gave it a certain impetus. It essentially came down to the following: every building should have a universal support structure, a universal skeleton able to support any given programme but just as easily able to dispose of it. The most beautiful exmaple is Manhattan’s grid, which is an extremely effective design that opens itself up to an enourmous range of possibilities. I once compared it to chess. The rules are universal, but possibilities for the next move are endless.'
Kloos. Hertzberger's Amsterdam, 2007
1980 Apollo Schools
Herman Hertzberger in the Apollo Schools.
'The sense of doubt that began to take hold in architecture around 1980 was probably due to buildings being viewed increasingly as autonomous works of art rather than objects that are the result of social trends. Meanwhile, the opposite view was being emphasized by people like Carel Weeber, who more or less proclaimed that there should be ‘no architecture without urban planning first’. He was right, of course, and I also began to concentrate on urban planning, so much so that its primacy has become a mainstay of my thinking. When we had built the Apollo Schools, an assistant of mine said: ‘Now you’ve really lost your way.’ And of course I was influenced by the notion of autonomy. On the other hand, the Apollo Schools contain a strong element of a Japanese puzzle, a kind of serial system, composed of very few components. It is for this reason that I count the schools among the best things I have done; in fact, I cannot do much better than that. Hans van Dijk wrote in Archis that he saw a similarity between the schools and Palladian villas. That is a compliment that genuinely was not wasted on me since I had been looking into doing something completely different from what I had done in the past. this project has symmetry, for one thing.'
Kloos. Hertzberger's Amsterdam, 2007
1984 Projects abroad
Lindenstrasse / Markgrafenstrasse housing, Berlin.
'The Apollo Schools represented a new beginning in another sense too. They were an overture to a decade when I was often away from Amsterdam. When ‘De Evenaar’ was completed, a period began when architecture started becoming a very international affair. In Delft, we recruited Alexander Tzonis and many other unusual characters from abroad. As for me, I went to Geneva to teach, and then to Kassel to build. These international experiences had a major influence on me. Thanks to my work in Kassel, I met Josef Paul kleihues who invited me to the IBA, the international building exhibition in Berlin.'
Kloos. Hertzberger's Amsterdam, 2007
1984 Projects abroad
Lindenstrasse / Markgrafenstrasse housing, Berlin.
'The Apollo Schools represented a new beginning in another sense too. They were an overture to a decade when I was often away from Amsterdam. When ‘De Evenaar’ was completed, a period began when architecture started becoming a very international affair. In Delft, we recruited Alexander Tzonis and many other unusual characters from abroad. As for me, I went to Geneva to teach, and then to Kassel to build. These international experiences had a major influence on me. Thanks to my work in Kassel, I met Josef Paul kleihues who invited me to the IBA, the international building exhibition in Berlin.'
Kloos. Hertzberger's Amsterdam, 2007
1985 Independent
Herman Hertzberger and Aldo van Eyck, 1985.
'You could say that I only became indepedent in the 1980s. I had finally reached a point where I began doubting myself less and was slowly able to break free from Le Corbusier and Aldo van Eyck. It is a process that should not be underestimated. My bond with Le Corbusier was a kind of father fixation that thundered on for quite some time after his death in 1965. The bond with Aldo thundered on for much longer, although the longer it lasted the more we tired each other, and we literally began to see each other less frequently. One of the last times I invited him to something was in 1990, when I asked him to attend the opening of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment in The Hague. He still came by on that occasion. In 1986, I received recognition for my work for the first time in Amsterdam at a Stichting Wonen exhibition. At least I felt that it was a kind of recognition. All international projects were exhibited next to one another. At the opening, biologist and writer Dick Hillenius gave an introductory speech, and people like Kenneth Frampton and Hans van Dijk wrote about my work. That was an important moment for me, a few years prior to my being being asked to become dean of the newly founded Berlage Institute in 1990.'
Kloos. Hertzberger's Amsterdam, 2007
1988 Berlage Institute
Hertzberger in the Berlage Institute, 1991.
'At the Berlage Institute I was finally given the opportunity to genuinely express a host of idea that i had about education. That was just what the doctor ordered. My starting point has always been that one should not steer students in a particular direction but expose them to as great a variety of alternatives as possible. On the other hand, I did not want to expose them to things that I thought were poor, so I suppose I was steering them after all. You could say that my time at the Berlage Institute was one of reflection, determined to a large extent by my own doubts. At last, I wanted to hear what Zaha Hadid, Renzo Piano, Jean Nouvel and all those other architects had to say, and to see the materialization of their ideas with my own two eyes. I asked them all to come and they all came. They told their stories, and returned for the master classes that we offered. There were based on the Delft Indesem model, the International Design Seminar.'
Kloos. Hertzberger's Amsterdam, 2007
1988 Berlage Institute
Hertzberger in the Berlage Institute, 1991.
'At the Berlage Institute I was finally given the opportunity to genuinely express a host of idea that i had about education. That was just what the doctor ordered. My starting point has always been that one should not steer students in a particular direction but expose them to as great a variety of alternatives as possible. On the other hand, I did not want to expose them to things that I thought were poor, so I suppose I was steering them after all. You could say that my time at the Berlage Institute was one of reflection, determined to a large extent by my own doubts. At last, I wanted to hear what Zaha Hadid, Renzo Piano, Jean Nouvel and all those other architects had to say, and to see the materialization of their ideas with my own two eyes. I asked them all to come and they all came. They told their stories, and returned for the master classes that we offered. There were based on the Delft Indesem model, the International Design Seminar.'
Kloos. Hertzberger's Amsterdam, 2007
1991 Influences
Brinkman and Van der Vlugt, Chabot Museum, Rotterdam.
'When you discuss your own work you have to ask yourself what you acquired from whom. Because everything you find comes from somewhere. The source was not your own mind, but was supplied by the culture you belong to. And that is why the work of others is so manifestly present here by way of a context. You can say that they are the lessons of Bramante, Cerdá, Chareau, Le Corbusier, Duiker and Bijvoet, Van Eyck, Gaudí, Jujol, Horta, Labrouste, Palladio, Van der Vlugt and Brinkman, and of all the others who lent me their eyes so that I could see and select precisely what I needed to carry my own work a step further. Architects (and not only they) are in the habit of concealing their sources of inspiration and even of trying to sublimate them. But in doing so the design process gets clouded, while by disclosing what moved and stimulated you in the first place you may well succeed in explaining yourself and motivating your decisions. Everything that is absorbed and registered in your mind adds to the collection of ideas stored in the memory: a sort of library you can consult whenever a problem arises. So, essentially, the more you have seen, experienced and absorbed, the more points of reference you will have to help you decide which direction to take: your frame of reference expands.'
Hertzberger. Articulations, 2002
1991 Orphanage
Burgerweeshuis, Aldo van Eyck, 1959.
'During this period Aldo and I crossed paths for the last time, namely to save his orphanage (Burgerweeshuis). To keep it from going under, the Berlage Institute was approached to move into and share its prmises. At a certain point I realized that the building could be used for other purposes than just an orphanage; it could aldo house a school or office building. Aldo did not see eye to eye with me at all on that issue, however. He has been called a structuralist, but in fact he was not one. He saw that building purely as an orphanage; he really saw the building as a self-contained work of art, and not a something dynamic. He eventually understood that he had to accept the Berlage Institute if the building was to be saved. I considered myself a potential saviour, precisely because I had become emotionally detached from it. There was a moment when I realized - and it was in fact Aldo who taught me this - that an object can represent a cultural value, whether or not you agree with it. I also relazed that you need a certain level of detachment before you can say: this was special once, but now we are going to create something completely new that is also special. In other words, you need to first experience special objects in order to recognize the value of your own creations.
Kloos. Hertzberger's Amsterdam, 2007
1991 Orphanage
Burgerweeshuis, Aldo van Eyck, 1959.
'During this period Aldo and I crossed paths for the last time, namely to save his orphanage (Burgerweeshuis). To keep it from going under, the Berlage Institute was approached to move into and share its prmises. At a certain point I realized that the building could be used for other purposes than just an orphanage; it could aldo house a school or office building. Aldo did not see eye to eye with me at all on that issue, however. He has been called a structuralist, but in fact he was not one. He saw that building purely as an orphanage; he really saw the building as a self-contained work of art, and not a something dynamic. He eventually understood that he had to accept the Berlage Institute if the building was to be saved. I considered myself a potential saviour, precisely because I had become emotionally detached from it. There was a moment when I realized - and it was in fact Aldo who taught me this - that an object can represent a cultural value, whether or not you agree with it. I also relazed that you need a certain level of detachment before you can say: this was special once, but now we are going to create something completely new that is also special. In other words, you need to first experience special objects in order to recognize the value of your own creations.
Kloos. Hertzberger's Amsterdam, 2007
1991 YKK dormitory, Japan
Photo: Nobuaki Nakagawa.
This dormitory for employees of the YKK concern is sited close to the centre of the town of Kurobe (Toyama district) between rice paddies and buildings in a disorganized configuration. In this predominantly rural area the dormitory stands opposite one of the YKK factory complexes where it forms a cornerstone of the street, which is to be developed further and linked up to the town centre.The dormitory comprises a hundred or so dwelling units, fully equipped as one-room apartments. There are, besides, communal facilities including a restaurant and a library. The building divides into a number of discrete parts connected with the most transparent possible means. None the less, this row of modest residential blocks poses a clear urban elevation. Articulating the dormitory into blocks prevents the whole from having an unduly massive presence, making it easier for it to slip into the small-scale surroundings. We also prevented it from becoming too much like a hotel with row upon row of impersonal doors off equally impersonal corridors with only artificial lighting. By splitting the living quarters into six separate blocks linked by bridges, those crossing from one block to another have outside views to both sides. These interruptions give the corridors a street feel.'
Hertzberger. Lessons in Architecture, 2000: p. 234
1992 The office moves to the Gerard Doustraat
Gerard Doustraat 220, Amsterdam.
'In 1992 we moved from the Vossiusstraat to our studio in the Gerard Doustraat, located in a building that was originally designed and used as a school. It is a coincedence that our studio is located in a school and the fact that we have designed many schools. When we saw this building, we thought this space was something we could use. It is possible that it is connected to our space idea, which is also reproduced in schools. It is the basic space idea for a community of people who are working, active, interacting, learning. This is what a school should be, so why not?'
Glazar, T en Mimica, V. “Misli o architekturi prije nego je pocnes raditi / Think about architecture before making it”. Oris, nr. 43, 2007
1992 The office moves to the Gerard Doustraat
Gerard Doustraat 220, Amsterdam.
'In 1992 we moved from the Vossiusstraat to our studio in the Gerard Doustraat, located in a building that was originally designed and used as a school. It is a coincedence that our studio is located in a school and the fact that we have designed many schools. When we saw this building, we thought this space was something we could use. It is possible that it is connected to our space idea, which is also reproduced in schools. It is the basic space idea for a community of people who are working, active, interacting, learning. This is what a school should be, so why not?'
Glazar, T en Mimica, V. “Misli o architekturi prije nego je pocnes raditi / Think about architecture before making it”. Oris, nr. 43, 2007
1993 Montessori College Oost
Photo: Jan-Dirk van der Burg.
'I believe that this building represents my greatest social achievement, with the exception perhaps of De Drie Hoven and Vredenburg in Utrecht. Once again we were able to demonstrate that social problems can be tackled - though not necessarily solved - using spatial resources and architectural know-how. You would be surprised how much actually can be achieved. The open nature of the Montessori School, where students can see each other and look out for each other, is a case in point. The building illustrates, in my opinion, what the function of architecture should be. It is not only about creating a beautiful object but, above all, being in tune with the forces of society. Like a photograph, it should convey something, and do so in an aesthetic way. The more beautiful the message, the more effective it will be. Think of music. The more beautifully it is played, the clearer the message. This certainly holds true for architecture as well: the greater the beauty in architecture, the more effectively its message is conveyed.'
Kloos. Hertzberger's Amsterdam, 2007
1996 Lessons for Students in Architecture
'This book reflects the material discussed in Hertzberger’s lectures on architecture at Delft Technical University from 1973 on, and contains elaborated versions of the lecture notes previously published as ‘Het openbare rijk’ (Public Domain) 1982, ‘Ruimte maken, ruimte laten’ (Making space, leaving space) 1984, and ‘Uitnodigende vorm’ (Inviting Form) 1988. The aim of my ‘lessons’ has always been to stimulate students, to evoke in them an architectural frame of mind that will enable them to do their own work; my aim in this book is the same.'
Hertzberger. Lessons for Students in Architecture, 1991: p. 4.
1996 Lessons for Students in Architecture
'This book reflects the material discussed in Hertzberger’s lectures on architecture at Delft Technical University from 1973 on, and contains elaborated versions of the lecture notes previously published as ‘Het openbare rijk’ (Public Domain) 1982, ‘Ruimte maken, ruimte laten’ (Making space, leaving space) 1984, and ‘Uitnodigende vorm’ (Inviting Form) 1988. The aim of my ‘lessons’ has always been to stimulate students, to evoke in them an architectural frame of mind that will enable them to do their own work; my aim in this book is the same.'
Hertzberger. Lessons for Students in Architecture, 1991: p. 4.
1996 Montessori school De Eilanden
'This primary school, whose original ten classrooms were increased to eleven during construction, is situated at one of the loveliest spots in Amsterdam with a view across the water on two sides. Part of a complex with eight exclusive houses rather than free-standing, it is a typical central-city project. The houses above it were not designed by us. Occupying the two lowest levels, the school seems intent on slipping out in every direction from under the houses, which are sited at three-metre intervals to let a minimum of sunlight down into the main assembly hall. This double-height hall once again is the locus of school activity. All classrooms are extended with a prefatory space doubling as a local widening of the corridor.'
Hertzberger. Articulations, 2002
1998 Watervilla
'If living on the water makes sense anywhere, then it is in the well-watered Netherlands. We all know the houseboats with their vibrant image of individual expression and inventiveness. But these houseboats are too little house and too much boat and not the most comfortable places to live.
Our first design for a watervilla dates from 1986 and the prototype now built in Middelburg, deriving from the original virtually cylindrical type, has three levels and complete freedom of choice in fitting them out. You could have the living room on the ground floor or upstairs. All three levels boast generous terraces. Living on the water brings freedom and independence. You can always move your home if you feel like it. And being able to turn it around means you can change the view, decide where the sun shines in and get the best energy consumption/saving ratio.'
Hertzberger. Articulations, 2002
1998 Watervilla
'If living on the water makes sense anywhere, then it is in the well-watered Netherlands. We all know the houseboats with their vibrant image of individual expression and inventiveness. But these houseboats are too little house and too much boat and not the most comfortable places to live.
Our first design for a watervilla dates from 1986 and the prototype now built in Middelburg, deriving from the original virtually cylindrical type, has three levels and complete freedom of choice in fitting them out. You could have the living room on the ground floor or upstairs. All three levels boast generous terraces. Living on the water brings freedom and independence. You can always move your home if you feel like it. And being able to turn it around means you can change the view, decide where the sun shines in and get the best energy consumption/saving ratio.'
Hertzberger. Articulations, 2002
1999 CODA, Apeldoorn
'I wanted to create a tranquil spot for the Cultuur onder dak. Transparent, and that brings you to glass facades and you look at the minimalism of, say, the Swiss architects Herzog and de Meuron. And the glass volume that Jean-Marc Ibos and his wife Myrto Vitard, former associates of Jean Nouvel, designed as an extension to the Fine Arts Museum in Lille. These forms of minimalisme do intrigue. I do not feel I have been overly expressive with the exterior in Apeldoorn. The building’s skin is completely smooth yet not devoid of expression due to the different types of glass used. And transparent. From the outside you can look all the way through the long wing of the U-shaped volume to the courtyard dimly visible beyond. The undulating roof of the almost subterranean museum hall doubles as the raised floor of the central courtyard with its walk-all-over sand-coloured rubber cladding. Shaping public space this way is another of our principal tasks. What is essential for the city? - that is what you look for. It has to look good too of course, but that is not the prime objective.'
Rooy, Max van. Place maker and Space maker: a portrait. 2004
1999 Space and the Architect: Lessons in Architecture 2
Space and the Architect is the sequel to Lessons for Students in Architecture published in 1991. The set-up of this second book is analogous to that of the first, though this time it concentrates on my work of the past ten years. Once again it is embedded in the work of others, from all over the world and from every era. Its main theme is space, which it illustrates with a collage of items that cross-reference each other freely throughout its seven chapters. The focus, then, is more that of a wide-angle lens than a telelens, with a key role set aside for designing as a process of thinking and researching.
Read more1999 Space and the Architect: Lessons in Architecture 2
Space and the Architect is the sequel to Lessons for Students in Architecture published in 1991. The set-up of this second book is analogous to that of the first, though this time it concentrates on my work of the past ten years. Once again it is embedded in the work of others, from all over the world and from every era. Its main theme is space, which it illustrates with a collage of items that cross-reference each other freely throughout its seven chapters. The focus, then, is more that of a wide-angle lens than a telelens, with a key role set aside for designing as a process of thinking and researching.
Read more2000 SG Newton (voorheen Titaan), Hoorn
'On a school day, and particularly during breaks, the stairs, of which the first two turn the corner to give a U-shaped seemingly sunken space, are awash with pupils who have come there to drink, chat, telephone, flirt and coax, provoke or just watch each other. Usually there are tables and chairs where you can sit together and where others can join you at will. Most prefer the more informal seating of the steps where you feel freer to come and go at will, with no strings attached. The U-shaped stairs encourage children to sit in a semicircle, expressing a sense of community, though with everyone retaining their freedom as individuals.'
Hertzberger. Space and Learning, 2008: p. 143
2002 Leone d'Oro
For the eighth Architecture Biennale in Venice, 2002 we were asked by the NAI (Dutch Architect Institute) to make an arrangement for the exhibition of five young architects in the Rietveld Pavilion. The task was to mediate between the modernist tradition embodied in Rietveld’s work and the design of the young generation.
The projects were presented in five low showcases which together formed a diagonal line through the space. This arrangement prevents the different projects from competing with one another.
2002 Leone d'Oro
For the eighth Architecture Biennale in Venice, 2002 we were asked by the NAI (Dutch Architect Institute) to make an arrangement for the exhibition of five young architects in the Rietveld Pavilion. The task was to mediate between the modernist tradition embodied in Rietveld’s work and the design of the young generation.
The projects were presented in five low showcases which together formed a diagonal line through the space. This arrangement prevents the different projects from competing with one another.
2004 NHL, Leeuwarden
'The existing building by the architect Bonnema has a certain amorphous form, something they could have expected from me. We must frame it, so that it does not walk away, we must bind it together. The challenge to respond to something that is a little out of your own family, just evoked an opposite reaction of what they expected of me. I felt recalcitrant. Unlike the existing building, the new building consists mainly of large column-free floors with a span of 11.70 meters, as made possible by the supporting structure that is set in the facade. Therefore, it is possible to always create other formats and to respond to the dynamics of modern educational institute.'
Hertzberger. 'The Schools of Herman Hertzberger', 2009
2005 Raffaello basis- en middelbare school, Rome
'The combination of a primary school with a school for secondary education, which is currently under construction in a suburb of Rome, consists of a repetition of architectural units, each of which comprises two times four classrooms adjoining a connecting street. Each unit is arranged around a patio, echoing the design of a traditional Roman house, which, thanks to the mild Italian climate, serves for most of the year as an additional outdoor space that can be used for teaching. It is with this purpose in mind that the approximately two-metres-wide projecting awnings were added. Extensions may be added in the future by building one or more new units around a patio.
The building stands – like an excavated site – almost an entire storey below the surrounding ground, and is accessed from the two flanking residential quarters through a central square, which is also sunk into the ground and surrounded by steps for sitting on.'
Hertzberger. 'The Schools of Herman Hertzberger', 2009
2005 Raffaello basis- en middelbare school, Rome
'The combination of a primary school with a school for secondary education, which is currently under construction in a suburb of Rome, consists of a repetition of architectural units, each of which comprises two times four classrooms adjoining a connecting street. Each unit is arranged around a patio, echoing the design of a traditional Roman house, which, thanks to the mild Italian climate, serves for most of the year as an additional outdoor space that can be used for teaching. It is with this purpose in mind that the approximately two-metres-wide projecting awnings were added. Extensions may be added in the future by building one or more new units around a patio.
The building stands – like an excavated site – almost an entire storey below the surrounding ground, and is accessed from the two flanking residential quarters through a central square, which is also sunk into the ground and surrounded by steps for sitting on.'
Hertzberger. 'The Schools of Herman Hertzberger', 2009
2007 Architectuurstudio Hertzberger becomes Architectuurstudio HH
'This year I will turn 75. For some time we have been working under the banner of Architecture studio Hertzberger. The term Architecture studio is meant to indicate that everything we build can no longer automatically be ascribed to me. This change from the past is certainly not easy for me to accept but it is necessary. At the moment we are considering a four-person management board, consisting essentially of those who for years have had a hand in determining the face of the studio. To begin with, there is Cor Kruter, who has been co-director since 1992 and essentially steered the policy of the architecture studio to the level we are at today. Then I must mention Patrick Fransen and Laurens Jan ten Kate, who have learned in the course of time to work more and more independently. The point is, as long as I have my own projects to work on and have full authority over their execution, then it is not such a terrible thing that we have grown so large and that others also develop their own projects bearing their own personal signature. I am still fairly ambitious and we keep the studio as it is, and I ‘would steal myself away’ from it, as someone so aptly phrased it.’
Kloos. Hertzberger's Amsterdam, 2007
2008 Space and Learning: Lessons in Architecture 3
This book is about architecture and education and at the same time it is not. The title, Space and Learning, intimates that it is about what lies between architecture and education and how the two, given certain conditions, influence one another. It is those conditions that are uppermost in these pages. Rather than being a litany of successful projects, it seeks to show how space can be a stimulus to learning.
As an architect, it is impossible to avoid largely proceeding from your own work and using it as research material. And this is very much the case here. Material from elsewhere served as a source of inspiration or to conform my own conclusions. As work on the book proceeded, its format grew almost unobserved in the direction of two preceding books, Lessons for Students in Architecture 1 (Making Space, Leaving Space) and Space and the Architect (Lessons in Architecture 2). So Space and Learning became part three of the series.
2008 Space and Learning: Lessons in Architecture 3
This book is about architecture and education and at the same time it is not. The title, Space and Learning, intimates that it is about what lies between architecture and education and how the two, given certain conditions, influence one another. It is those conditions that are uppermost in these pages. Rather than being a litany of successful projects, it seeks to show how space can be a stimulus to learning.
As an architect, it is impossible to avoid largely proceeding from your own work and using it as research material. And this is very much the case here. Material from elsewhere served as a source of inspiration or to conform my own conclusions. As work on the book proceeded, its format grew almost unobserved in the direction of two preceding books, Lessons for Students in Architecture 1 (Making Space, Leaving Space) and Space and the Architect (Lessons in Architecture 2). So Space and Learning became part three of the series.
2009 Alle scholen van Herman Hertzberger
In 'Space and Learning' I discussed the spatial themes that I had developed over the years in a more or less systematic way, on the basis of examples taken not only from my own concrete applications of those themes, but from everywhere.1 The present book forms a logical sequel to this, in that it presents all my own designs for schools, and those designed by me that were actually built, which contributed to this development. These designs and concrete school buildings show that the development of spatial conditions is wholly bound by the dictates of the world of education. What doors are closed by educationalists and governments with their implacable regulations, and what doors are opened?
The introductory essay by the sociologist Abram de Swaan, ‘The relational space’, reflects on what an architect tries to express in spatial conditions. His text brought home to me once again that it is in school buildings, above all, that my ideas have found concrete expression. That is why this text belongs exactly where it is.
2009 Documentary 'Searching for Space'
The documentary 'Searching for Space' shows the inspirations and motivations of an architect; what his motivations and goals are; where he gets his inspiration, of writers, painters, composers; who have preceded him and who are always by his side, and finally, what has been translated to stone and glass.
Documentary maker Kees Hin has engaged this all with a sharp eye and a sharp ear, concentrating on a unique compostion, connecting all the bits together.
Director - Kees Hin
Duration - 74 min
Premiere - Architectuur Film Festival Rotterdam
Camera - Martijn van Beenen
Sound - Erik Langhout
Montage - Elmer Leupen
Producer - Interakt | René Mendel, Lies Janssen
2009 Documentary 'Searching for Space'
The documentary 'Searching for Space' shows the inspirations and motivations of an architect; what his motivations and goals are; where he gets his inspiration, of writers, painters, composers; who have preceded him and who are always by his side, and finally, what has been translated to stone and glass.
Documentary maker Kees Hin has engaged this all with a sharp eye and a sharp ear, concentrating on a unique compostion, connecting all the bits together.
Director - Kees Hin
Duration - 74 min
Premiere - Architectuur Film Festival Rotterdam
Camera - Martijn van Beenen
Sound - Erik Langhout
Montage - Elmer Leupen
Producer - Interakt | René Mendel, Lies Janssen
2012 RIBA Gold Medal
Photo: Andrew Hendry.
On February 9th 2012, Herman Hertzberger has received the Royal Gold Medal by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in Londen.
"The internationally acclaimed Dutch architect Herman Hertzberger has been named as the recipient of the 2012 Royal Gold Medal. Given in recognition of a lifetime's work, the Royal Gold Medal, established in 1848, is approved personally by Her Majesty the Queen and is awarded annually to a person or group of people whose influence on architecture has had a truly international effect."
"For the Dutch architect Herman Hertzberger the structure of a building is not an end in itself, it is literally the framework for the life that goes on inside it, a life that is determined by its users. This goes for a school, a home or an office – all building types that he has transformed in a 50-year career in architecture."
RIBA
2017 85th birthday
With a festive gathering in the Amsterdam Academy of Architecture, Herman Hertzberger celebrated his 85th birthday on July 8, 2017. During this meeting there were lectures by Herman Hertzberger himself, Chief Government Architect Floris Alkemade, Eelco van Welie of NAi Publishers and Laurens Jan ten Kate of AHH. There was also an exhibition in which Hertzberger is looking for meaning in our field of profession, and for architecture that matters. On the occasion of his birthday, Hertzberger composed a publication with "still unripe next to overripe subjects that keep me occupied, 'waiting' for further elaboration. No peace and quite for me in any case".
Read more2017 85th birthday
With a festive gathering in the Amsterdam Academy of Architecture, Herman Hertzberger celebrated his 85th birthday on July 8, 2017. During this meeting there were lectures by Herman Hertzberger himself, Chief Government Architect Floris Alkemade, Eelco van Welie of NAi Publishers and Laurens Jan ten Kate of AHH. There was also an exhibition in which Hertzberger is looking for meaning in our field of profession, and for architecture that matters. On the occasion of his birthday, Hertzberger composed a publication with "still unripe next to overripe subjects that keep me occupied, 'waiting' for further elaboration. No peace and quite for me in any case".
Read more