Dirk Brouwer was a 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...

 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...

. His father was a concierge

Concierge

A concierge is an employee who either works in shifts within, or lives on the premises of an apartment building or a hotel and serves guests with duties similar to those of a butler. The position can also be maintained by a security officer over the 'graveyard' shift. A similar position, known as...

 at a local technical school.

After three years of studies Dirk Brouwer learned from various architects and attended a course for Higher Architectural Education in Amsterdam

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...

.

His buildings were designed according to the Amsterdam School

Amsterdam School

The Amsterdam School is a style of architecture that arose from 1910 through about 1930 in The Netherlands...

 and he cooperated with Willem Marinus Dudok

Willem Marinus Dudok

Willem Marinus Dudok , was a Dutch modernist architect, best known for the brick Hilversum City Hall....

, a notable assertor of Modernism

Modernism

Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...

, thus Brouwer's style was influenced. In 1938 he designed the backside and possibly also the dome light of the Bijenkorf department store in Amsterdam, which was since used by HEMA

Hema (store)

HEMA is a Dutch dimestore chain. It was part of the Maxeda company until June 2007, when it was bought by Lion Capital LLP...

, he also built the HEMA store in Heerlen

Heerlen

Heerlen is a city and a municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. The municipality is the second largest in the province of Limburg. It forms part of Parkstad Limburg, , an agglomeration of about 220,000 inhabitants.After its early Roman beginnings and a rather modest medieval period, Heerlen...

.

In World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 he joined the resistance and the editors of the illegal magazine Vrij Nederland

Vrij Nederland

Vrij Nederland is a Dutch magazine which was established during the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II as an underground newspaper but has since grown into a magazine. The weekly magazine is generally considered to be intellectually left-wing...

. He was therefore executed by German troops in the dunes near Overveen in 1941.