Moshé Zwarts (27 August 1937,

Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...

Israël Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. It occupies the Pale ...

– 4 December 2019,

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

) was a Dutch architect, founder of the architectural office ZJA (formerly Zwarts & Jansma Architecten) and a former senior professor of Architectural Technology at the

Technical University of Delft The Delft University of Technology (TU Delft; ) is the oldest and largest Dutch public technical university, located in Delft, Netherlands. It specializes in engineering, technology, computing, design, and natural sciences. It is considered one o ...

and the Technical University of Eindhoven. His portfolio encompasses many infrastructural projects including football stadiums.

Early life and education

Zwarts was born in 1937, in the household of Jewish-Dutch parents in Haifa, present day Israel. In 1939 the family moved to Amsterdam. The year was the start of the

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

when his family was deported initially to the Dutch camp

Westerbork Camp Westerbork (, , Drents: ''Börker Kamp; Kamp Westerbörk''), also known as Westerbork transit camp, was a Nazi transit camp in the province of Drenthe in the Northeastern Netherlands, during World War II. It was located in the municipality ...

and then to

Bergen-Belsen Bergen-Belsen (), or Belsen, was a Nazi concentration camp in what is today Lower Saxony in Northern Germany, northern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen, Lower Saxony, Bergen near Celle. Originally established as a prisoner of war camp, ...

. After liberation by the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

, they were able to return to Amsterdam. The reception of camp survivors was in the catacombs of the Central Station of Amsterdam. Although Zwarts was eight years old at the time, it made a stark impression on him as he would commemorate at the end of his life. At Zwarts’ request, the

Dutch Railways (, , NS ) is the principal passenger railway operator in the Netherlands. It is a Dutch state-owned company founded in 1938. The rail infrastructure is maintained by network manager ProRail, which was split off from NS in 2003. Freight operat ...

have placed a remembrance plaque inside the station acknowledging the failure of the Dutch government to properly receive survivors of German

concentration camps A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploit ...

. After finishing the HBS secondary school, he went to study architecture at the

, where he was inspired by Dutch architects

Cornelis van Eesteren Cornelis van Eesteren (4 July 1897 – 21 February 1988) was a prominent Dutch architect and urban planner who was born in Alblasserdam and died in Amsterdam. He worked for the Town Planning department of Amsterdam (1929–1959) and was the chai ...

and

Jo van den Broek Johannes Hendrik van den Broek (; 4 October 1898 – 6 September 1978) was a Dutch architect influential in the rebuilding of Rotterdam after World War II. He is known for his work with Jaap Bakema, in their practice as Van den Broek en Bakema, ...

. Van den Broek supervised Zwarts’ graduation in 1963, which encompassed a computer-generated design for a new

Schiphol Airport Amsterdam Airport Schiphol , known informally as Schiphol Airport (, ), is the main international airport of the Netherlands, and is one of the major hubs for the SkyTeam airline alliance. It is located southwest of Amsterdam, in the municip ...

. Being the first at the faculty to use computers for solving architectural problems, Zwarts’ was awarded a cum laude distinction.

Academic career

After university, Zwarts was employed by

Shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses Science Biology * Seashell, a hard outer layer of a marine ani ...

Plastics Laboratory, where he worked from 1963 until 1969. During his research on plastics in construction, he developed an innovative lightweight building system for better, more affordable social housing that could be built in less time. In 1969 Zwarts was offered a teaching position at the Technical University of Eindhoven as a Lecturer of Architectural Detailing. Shortly afterwards he became Head of the Department of Building Production Technology. From 1981 until 1989 he was Senior Professor in Architectural Technology at both TU Eindhoven and TU Delft.

ZJA

In January 1990, Zwarts (aged 52) founded an architectural office in partnership with Rein Jansma (aged 31). Jansma is the son of Zwarts’ close friend, the late artist Arie Jansma. Despite their age gap of more than 20 years, Zwarts and Jansma proved to be a successful creative team with their architectural office ZJA (formerly Zwarts & Jansma Architecten) still functioning today. Notable projects of ZJA include the Dutch pavilion for the

Seville Expo '92 The Universal Exhibition of Seville 1992 – Expo '92 (officially: ) was a universal exhibition held from Monday 20 April to Monday 12 October 1992, at the , in Seville, Spain. The theme for the expo was "The Age of Discoveries", celebrating the ...

, the metro station Wilhelminaplein in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

, the internationally-acclaimed light rail station ‘ De Netkous’ at the Beatrixlaan in

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

and the renovation of the

Feijenoord Feijenoord () is a borough of Rotterdam in the Netherlands, south of the Nieuwe Maas. Feyenoord football club was formed there, but now play in the neighbouring township of IJsselmonde. It was a centre of shipbuilding in the nineteenth century, ...

Football Stadium ‘

De Kuip Stadion Feijenoord (), more commonly known by its nickname De Kuip (, the Tub), is a stadium in Rotterdam, Netherlands. It was completed in 1937. The name is derived from the Feijenoord district in Rotterdam, and from the club with the same na ...

’. Over the years, ZJA grew as a company to employ around fifty employees. Reinald Top and Rob Torsing joined the board in 2003 and Ralph Kieft in 2019. Aged 72, Zwarts retired in 2009. Privately he continued his own research and design practice.

Personal life

Moshé Zwarts was married to Mineke Zwarts-Broekman and they had two children.

Publications

Publications with contributions by Moshé Zwarts: * ''Zwarts & Jansma Architects''. By Jeroen Mensink. Amsterdam: Architecture & Natura, 2003. * ''Architecten 15 portretten''. Amsterdam: Architectura & Natura, 2005. * ''Architectuur als discipline''. By Bart Goldhoorn. Rotterdam: NAI uitgevers, 1996. * ''Architecture Now''. Amsterdam: Architectura & Natura, 1991.

References

External links

Official website ZJA

ZJA on e-architect
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zwarts, Moshe Dutch architects 1937 births 2019 deaths