Ben van Berkel
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| This article or section needs to be wikified to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please help improve this article with relevant internal links. (August 2007) |
| The tone or style of this article or section may not be appropriate for Wikipedia. Specific concerns may be found on the talk page. See Wikipedia's guide to writing better articles for suggestions.(December 2007) |
| Ben van Berkel | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Name | Ben van Berkel |
| Nationality | Dutch |
| Birth date | 1957 |
| Birth place | Utrecht, Netherlands |
| Work | |
| Practice name | UNStudio |
| Significant buildings | Moebius House |
Ben van Berkel studied architecture at the Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam and at the Architectural Association in London, receiving the AA Diploma with Honours in 1987.
In 1988 he and Caroline Bos set up an architectural practice in Amsterdam. The Van Berkel & Bos Architectuurbureau has realized amongst others projects the Karbouw office building, the Erasmus Bridge in Rotterdam, museum Het Valkhof in Nijmegen, the Moebius house and the NMR facilities for the University of Utrecht.
In 1998 Ben van Berkel and Caroline Bos established a new firm: UNStudio (United Net). UNStudio presents itself as a network of specialists in architecture, urban development and infrastructure. Current projects are the restructuring of the station area of Arnhem, a shopping mall renovation in Kaohsiung, a masterplan for Basauri, a music theatre for Graz, the design and restructuring of the Harbor Ponte Parodi in Genoa and an apartment building in the Tribeca section of Manhattan. With UNStudio he realized amongst others the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart, a façade and interior renovation for the Galleria Department store in Seoul and a private villa up-state New York.
Ben van Berkel has lectured and taught at many architectural schools around the world. Currently he is Professor Conceptual Design at the Staedelschule in Frankfurt am Main. Central to his teaching is the inclusive approach of architectural works integrating virtual and material organization and engineering constructions.

