Frits van Dongen is an 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...

 from the Netherlands

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...

. He designed a canal-side municipal theatre for the city of Leeuwarden with his firm De Architecten Cie. The building he designed that is known as The Whale is in an area known as the Oostelijke Handelskade (Eastern Docklands area) that includes "some of The Netherlands' most cutting-edge housing developments including Piraeus

Piraeus

Piraeus is a city in the region of Attica, Greece. Piraeus is located within the Athens Urban Area, 12 km southwest from its city center , and lies along the east coast of the Saronic Gulf....

, designed by Hans Kollhoff

Hans Kollhoff

Hans Kollhoff is a German architect and professor.He studied architecture from 1968 to 1973 at the University of Karlsruhe with Egon Eiermann and studied abroad in 1974 at the Vienna University of Technology in Austria. He received his diploma in 1975 in Karlsruhe...

 and Christian Rappit, "Hoop, Liefde en Fortuin" (named after three windmills that used to dominate this area) by Rudy Uytenhaak" and one of Jamie Oliver's "Fifteen" restaurants. Rotterdam Maaskant Prize for Young Architects 2005 winner Oliver Thill and his architecture partner André Kempe, both from East Germany, both worked in van Dongen's office.

Projects:

• Delfts Blauw, Delft, The Netherlands, 1998
• Batavia - Entrepot - West 4, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2000
• The Whale, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2000