Herman Hertzberger
(1932-)

Herman Hertzberger was born in Amsterdam in 1932. In 1958, after completing his studies at Delft University of Technology, he returned to Amsterdam to set up a private practice. Among his most distinguishing projects are his Student Housing, Amsterdam, (1959-66) the Centraal Beheer Corporate Offices (1968-72) and the music centre Vredenburg, Utrecht (1973-78). Hertzberger gained special renown with his school designs, most notably the Apollo Schools, Amsterdam (1980-83). Hertzberger is considered to be the leading exponent of Dutch structuralism. However, in the 1990s he broke away from this tendency in search of new directions; the design for the Chassé Theatre, Breda (1992-95) marked this break.

Hertzberger’s formative period is his membership of the Forum editorial board (1959-63); he had just graduated when he was asked to join the board together with Bakema, Van Eyck, Hardy and others. It was here that his thinking would be ingrained with Team 10 ideas. He was introduced into the Team 10 circle by Van Eyck, who brought him to the Berlin meeting in 1965. Hertzberger also joined the meeting in Urbino in 1966, but decided he did not like the atmosphere and would not participate anymore. In the end he did attend the meeting in Rotterdam in 1974, where he showed Team 10 around in his Centraal Beheer office building, then just completed.

From 1965 to 1969, Hertzberger taught at the Academy of Architecture in Amsterdam and from 1970 to 1999 he was a professor in Delft. His renowned 'Lessons for Students in Architecture' (1991) brings together most of his teachings. Between 1966 and the present, Hertzberger has been a visiting professor at several American and European universities. He founded the Berlage Institute that opened its doors in Van Eyck’s reused Municipal Orphanage in 1990. In 1991 he was awarded the Dutch BNA-kubus.
Hertzberger lives and works in Amsterdam.

See also: Architectuurstudio Herman Hertzberger