Teun Koolhaas (7 January 1940 in

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

– 3 October 2007 in

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 ...

) was a Dutch architect and urban planner.

Early years

Teun Koolhaas was born in Singapore, where his father, Rem Koolhaas, worked as a shipbuilding engineer. When Southeast Asia was occupied by Japan, Teun and his mother were imprisoned in Tjideng camp in Batavia. After the end of the Japanese occupation of Indonesia, the family was reunited, and they moved to Hong Kong. In 1955 Koolhaas returned to the Netherlands to complete his secondary education. He then went on to study engineering 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 ...

, where he attended lectures by artists including

Gerrit Rietveld Gerrit Rietveld (24 June 1888 – 25 June 1964) was a Dutch furniture designer and architect. Early life Rietveld was born in Utrecht on 24 June 1888 as the son of a joiner. He left school at 11 to be apprenticed to his father and enrolled at n ...

and

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 ...

. After graduating in 1967 Koolhaas continued his studies at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

and

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

in the United States. At Harvard, he earned a degree in urban planning.

Work

In 1969 Koolhaas returned to the Netherlands, where he went to work for the architectural firm, Environmental Design SA. Among other things he designed the dentistry school building at the

University of Utrecht Utrecht University (UU; , formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2023, it had an enrollment of 39,769 students, a ...

in the Uithof complex. Today, the departments of biology and pharmaceutical sciences are located there. The official name is the F.A.F.C. Went Building (after the botanist

Frits Went Friedrich August Ferdinand Christian Went (June 18, 1863 – July 24, 1935) was a Dutch botanist. Went was born in Amsterdam. He was professor of botany and director of the Botanical Garden at the University of Utrecht. His eldest son was ...

). In 1972 Koolhaas began working for the National Office for the IJsselmeer Polders (RIJP). As part of a team of architects, urban planners, sociologists, traffic planners and landscape architects, Koolhaas played an important role in creating the master plan for the new city of

Almere Almere () is a Planned community, planned List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Flevoland, Netherlands across the IJmeer fro ...

in the south island of

Flevoland Flevoland () is the twelfth and newest province of the Netherlands, established in 1986, when the southern and eastern Flevopolders, together with the Noordoostpolder, were merged into one provincial entity. It is in the centre of the countr ...

, and was responsible for its urban design. In 1981 Koolhaas left the Almere project and moved to the regular organization of the RIJP, where he was involved in the design of

Zeewolde Zeewolde () is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a town in the Flevoland province in the central Netherlands. It has a population of approximately 24,000 (2024). It is situated in the polder of Flevoland with the small lake ca ...

, and made designs for

Markerwaard 200px, The Markerwaard would be on what is now the Markermeer The Markerwaard is the name of a proposed, but never built, polder adjoining the IJsselmeer in the central Netherlands. Its construction would have resulted in the near-total reclama ...

, a

polder A polder () is a low-lying tract of land that forms an artificial hydrology, hydrological entity, enclosed by embankments known as levee, dikes. The three types of polder are: # Land reclamation, Land reclaimed from a body of water, such as a ...

that was never built. In the mid-eighties Koolhaas started out on his own, and founded Ontwerpbureau Ir. Teun Koolhaas Associates (TKA). TKA's work included the master plan for

Kop van Zuid Kop van Zuid () is a neighborhood of Rotterdam, Netherlands, located on the south bank of the Nieuwe Maas opposite the center of town. The district is relatively young and includes the Wilhelmina Pier as well as the ''V'' bounded by the Rose Str ...

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 ...

. In 2003, suffering from cancer, Koolhaas left TKA but continued working almost until his death in October 2007; he was commissioned by the municipalities of Almere and Amsterdam to design the new town Almere Pampus.

Family

Teun Koolhaas is the father of actress

Betje Koolhaas Betje is a Dutch feminine given name. It is a diminutive of Elizabeth (given name), Elisabeth. Notable people with the name include: * (1888–1968), Dutch politician * (born 1972), Dutch actress * Betje Wery (1920–2006), Dutch Nazi collaborato ...

. Author and screenwriter Anton Koolhaas (father of architect

Rem Koolhaas Remment Lucas Koolhaas (; born 17 November 1944) is a Dutch architect, architectural theory, architectural theorist, urbanist and Professor in Practice of Architecture and Urban Design at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, Graduate School of ...

) was his paternal uncle.

Awards

*1967–1969: Harkness Fellowship of the Commonwealth Fund, New York *1970: Grand Prix International d’Urbanisme et d’Architecture’, Cannes, France *1984: Second Prize (of 198 participants) in the Oosterdock urban design competition *1985: Gepremieerd ontwerp voor een experimenteel woonhuis in de ontwerpprijsvraag De Fantasie’, bekend als ‘Polderblik’ te Almere *1991: First Prize design competition Gross Glienicke near Berlin, urban planning and construction of 105 homes *1994: First Prize design competition Central Zone Amsterdam Noord *1999: The Island Neighborhood in

Almere Buiten Almere Buiten is a district in the municipality of Almere in the Dutch province of Flevoland. The district houses 56,760 residents as of 2023. Almere Buiten is made up of the following neighbourhoods: Bloemenbuurt, Bouwmeesterbuurt, Eilandenbuur ...

was named best housing estate by the Netherlands ministry of housing, planning and environment *2000: First Prize design competition Westerdok Amsterdam (school and residential building)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Koolhaas, Teun 1940 births 2007 deaths 20th-century Dutch architects 21st-century Dutch architects Delft University of Technology alumni Harvard Graduate School of Design alumni People from Singapore Urban designers World War II civilian prisoners held by Japan Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni