Chief Government Architect of the Netherlands
Encyclopedia
The Chief Government Architect (Dutch: Rijksbouwmeester) is the senior architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...

 for the Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment (VROM). The Chief Architect's responsibility is to protect and stimulate the architectural
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...

 quality and urban
Urban planning
Urban planning incorporates areas such as economics, design, ecology, sociology, geography, law, political science, and statistics to guide and ensure the orderly development of settlements and communities....

 suitability of government buildings in the Netherlands. The position was previously known as Chief National Architect (landsbouwmeester) and Royal Chief Architect (rijksarchitect).

The Chief Architect provides an architect's view in urban planning projects and national, architectural policy. The architect is authorized to advise the government on relevant issues, either at the request of the government or of his own accord. The idea is also that he will pay special attention and act as a sort of guardian for monuments and other buildings of value as cultural heritage
Cultural heritage
Cultural heritage is the legacy of physical artifacts and intangible attributes of a group or society that are inherited from past generations, maintained in the present and bestowed for the benefit of future generations...

, as well as the use of visual art in government buildings.

The Chief Architect is officially the chief advisor to the Director-General
Director-general
The term director-general is a title given the highest executive officer within a governmental, statutory, NGO, third sector or not-for-profit institution.-European Union:...

 of the Rijksgebouwendienst, the agency within VROM that manages government buildings. He is also the chief advisor for architectural policy to the ministers of VROM, of Housing, Neighborhoods and Integration and other ministers with responsibilities in this policy area. He is the head of his own staff bureau, the Chief Architect's Studio (Dutch: Atelier Rijksbouwmeester), which assists him in his duties. Starting in 2005 the Studio also houses three other policy advisors with similar tasks: the Government Advisor on Landscape, the Government Advisor on Infrastructure and the Government Advisor on Cultural Heritage. The four together are the College of Government Advisors.

The Chief Architect has great influence on urban building projects, as he decides which architects are allowed to bid on projects of the Rijksgebouwendienst.

The position of Chief Government Architect of the Netherlands has existed, under one name or another, since 1806. In that year Jean-Thomas Thibault was first named Royal Architect. The position was not unique between 1870 and 1920 as several Master Builders held the title simultaneously, each working for a different government service doing some sort of construction. After the formation of the Rijksgebouwendienst in 1924, only one Chief Architect position remained and he was in charge of the actual design work for government building. This changed to the current advisory position in the period 1958-1971, when Jo Vegter was Chief Architect. Following the new definition of the office (which was more neutral), the requests for the Chief Architect's involvement increased. During the 1980s
1980s
File:1980s decade montage.png|thumb|400px|From left, clockwise: The first Space Shuttle, Columbia, lifted off in 1981; American President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev eased tensions between the two superpowers, leading to the end of the Cold War; The Fall of the Berlin Wall in...

 his responsibilities were increased as well and finally it became necessary to create the other three Government Advisorships, to deal with the glut of work.

In 1998 a similar position was created in Flanders
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...

, the Chief Architect of Flanders.

Master Builders

  • Jean-Thomas Thibault (1806–1810; Royal Architect)
  • Bartold Ziesenis (1813–1820; Royal Architect/Imperial Architect/Architect of national buildings)
  • Isaäc Warnsinck (1845–1857; architect-advisor for prisons)
  • Allard C. Pierson (1857–1870; architect-advisor for prisons)
  • Willem Nicolaas Rose (1858–1867; chief architect national buildings)
  • Johan Frederik Metzelaar (1870–1886; engineer-architect of prisons and courthouses)
  • Pierre J.H. Cuypers
    Pierre Cuypers
    Petrus Josephus Hubertus Cuypers was a Dutch architect. His name is most frequently associated with the Amsterdam Central Station and the Rijksmuseum , both in Amsterdam. More representative for his oeuvre, however, are numerous churches, of which he designed more than 100...

     (1874–1921; architect of royal museum buildings)
  • Lucas Hermanus Eberson (1874–1889; Royal Architect)
  • Jacobus van Lokhorst (1878–1906; government building engineer for education etc.)
  • Adolph J.M. Mulder (1878–1918; Chief Architect of monuments)
  • Willem Cornelis Metzelaar (1883–1914; engineer-architect of prisons and courthouses)
  • Cornelis H. Peters (1884–1915; national buildings, first district)
  • M.A. van Wadenoyen (1886–1907; government building engineer for education etc.)
  • Johannes A.W. Vrijman (1888–1923; government building engineer for education etc.)
  • Gustav C. (Cees) Bremer (1924–1945)
  • Hayo Hoekstra (1945–1946)
  • Gijsbert Friedhoff (1946–1958)
  • Jo Vegter (1958–1971)
  • Frank Sevenhuijsen (1971–1974; ad interim)
  • Wim Quist (1974–1979)
  • Tjeerd Dijkstra (1979–1986)
  • Frans van Gool (1986–1988)
  • Jan Dirk Peereboom Voller (1988–1989; ad interim)
  • Kees Rijnboutt (1989–1995)
  • Wytze Patijn (1995–2000)
  • Jo Coenen
    Jo Coenen
    Jo Coenen is a Dutch architect and urban planner. He studied architecture at the Eindhoven University of Technology , and later held professorships at TU Karlsruhe, Eindhoven University of Technology and Delft University of Technology.Between 2000 and 2004 Coenen was Chief Government Architect of...

     (November 2000 - September 2004)
  • Mels Crouwel (October 2004 - August 2008)
  • Liesbeth van der Pol (August 2008 - ...)

External links

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