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Portret Hugh Maaskant
'You will be framed and then I will be a hard realist! I just know that. No one sees me as a dreamer and that's true. Even at night I don't dream.'

Huig Maaskant

Huig Maaskant (1907-1970)

The architect Huig A. Maaskant was born in Rotterdam on August 17, 1907. He attended the Academy of Arts and Technical Sciences on Coolsingel, which was destroyed in May 1940. He later became a teacher at this academy and a member of the school board.

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In 1926 he went to work for the architect Jos de Jonge, where he was fired during the depression of the 1930s. He was able to return to work for the architect Van Tijen, with whom he formed the firm "Van Tijen & Maaskant" in 1937.

 

From 1955 Maaskant had his own agency. In 1960 he associated with the most important employees of his office: Van Dommelen, Kroos and Snef. Many architects have made their mark at this firm over the years.

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Maaskant was more of a 'doer' than a talker about his ideas and designs. He had great respect for those who were able to transmit and propagate their knowledge of and love for architecture. To reward these types of activities, he founded the Rotterdam-Maaskant Foundation in 1976.

 

He died on May 27, 1977, just before his 70th birthday. Unfortunately, his wish to attend the first presentation of the Rotterdam-Maaskant Prize on March 3, 1978 was not fulfilled.

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Projects in Rotterdam

In Rotterdam, Maaskant mainly built a lot during the reconstruction period after the Second World War.

In random order:

 

  • the Wholesale Building

  • the Hilton hotel

  • the Technikon with sports facilities tower

  • the Hofpleintheater

  • the temporary shops on Blaak immediately after the war,

  • shops on Beursplein (formerly Magazijn Nederland),

  • the collective buildings on the Goudsesingel and the Oostzeedijk,

  • the Euromast tower,

  • the apartment buildings on Lijnbaan and Oostplein,

  • the Voormolen building,

  • the Sparta Stadium,

  • the Weena parking garage

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His last great creation was the Adriaan Volkerhuis on the Maasboulevard.

Projects outside Rotterdam

Maaskant's best-known projects outside Rotterdam are:

 

  • the aviation laboratory

  • the Fokker factories

  • the Confection Center

  • the Gas and Water Supply Building

  • the Europa House in Amsterdam

  • the provincial government building and the Remington factories in Den Bosch

  • the Johnson Wax factory in Mijdrecht

  • the KNVB sports center in Zeist

  • the Tomadohuis in Dordrecht

  • the Tomado factories in Etten-Leur

  • the pier in Scheveningen

 

The PTT buildings in Schiedam and Voorburg and the town halls in Meppel and Hazerswoude are also designs by Maaskant; not to forget the many schools and houses he built.

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