Ben Van Berkel

This publication represents the first thorough documentation of the buildings of Ben van Berkel a young Dutch architect. His works include the designs for the Erasmus Bridge across the Riewe Maas in Rotterdam; the Piet Hein Tunnel in Amsterdam; the housing projects in Sloten and Amersfoort; office buildings, urban plans for the renovation of the central area in Amsterdam's Eastern Harbors; and his designs for Rotterdam's Theater Square.

Gerrit Confurius on the architect: "Ben van Berkel's works are pronouncedly modern, in fact current. His theme is the process of transformation to which the city is subjected. This leads to the question of how the architect can exercise his influence on this process...Berkel's project are based in areas which are subject to extensive redevelopment or on the border between intact older complexes and zones which can be potentially renovated...The architectural interventions must have the power to place in a new light what already exists and to engender hieararchies. They must radiate in life and in their surroundings. Ben van Berkel possesses the power to accomplish this."

This is the first extensive and detailed study of Ben van Berkel's architectural design and projects. His various works throughout Holland have earned him a reputation as a contemporary architect seriously engaged in the on-going process of urban trans-formation.