Hubert Jan Henket

Life

Henket graduated in 1969 cum laude in building engineering from the Technische Hogeschool Delft (Delft University of Technology) where he was taught by Jaap Bakema and Aldo van Eyck. In 1969-1970 he was given a grant by the Finnish government to study urbanism at the Otaniemi university of Helsinki, Teknillinen korkeakoulu. He worked with the Finnish architect Reima Pietilä. Between 1970 and 1974 he worked for Castle Park Dean Hook architects in London. Acting for this company, he was director of the Housing Renewal Unit in London from 1974 until 1976. In 1976 Henket started his own architectural practice in the Netherlands " Hubert-Jan Henket architecten". When he handed over the directorship of the office to Janneke Bierman in 2005, the name was changed to "Henket and partners architects" and in 2010 to "Bierman Henket architects". Since them, the practice has facilitated his architectural activities.

When he started working in London, Henket began teaching at The Bartlett School of Architecture of University College London. In 1976 he became "wetenschappelijk hoofdmedewerker" (scientific staff member) in renovation technique at the Technische Hogeschool Delft. From 1984 to 1998 he was professor in building technology at the Technische Universiteit Eindhoven (Eindhoven University of Technology), and from 1998 until in 2005 he held one of the chairs in architecture at Delft University of Technology.

In 1988 Henket and Wessel de Jonge founded Docomomo International, the working party for the documentation and conservation of buildings, neighborhoods and landscapes of the Modern Movement. The organization has 73 chapters worldwide. Henket is the honorary president of the organization. In 1999 the Dutch Broadcasting Corporation showed the documentary Hubert-Jan Henket, man van staal, hout en glas (Hubert-Jan Henket, man of steel, wood and glass) in the documentary series "Het Uur van de Wolf".

Work

New buildings designed by Henket are amongst others the headquarters of the White Fathers Missionary in Dar es Salaam Tanzania,the law court buildings in Middelburg and Haarlem,the government building Ceramique in Maastricht,the wintergarden of the Hortus Botanicus in Leiden, the underground building for the faculties of theatre and dance of the ARTEZ academy in Arnhem, a house near Graaff Reinet in the Great Karoo South Africa,a house near Batumi in Georgia, a house in Aerdenhout and the Dutch Embassy in Bangkok Thailand (together with Janneke Bierman).

Examples of building extensions and adaptive reuse designed by Henket are the Teylers Museum in Haarlem,the van Beuningen-de Vriese Pavilion of Museum Boymans van Beuningen in Rotterdam,het Brabants Museum and het Stedelijk Museum s'Hertogenbosch (together with Janneke Bierman),Museum de Fundatie in Zwolle en the cultural centre de Verkadefabriek in s'Hertogenbosch.

Examples of restorations of 20th century buildings are sanatorium Zonnestraal (1928-1931) by Johannes Duiker in Hilversum (together with Wessel de Jonge) and the Academy of fine arts (1956) by Gerrit Rietveld in Arnhem. He was the supervising architect for the restoration of the Beurs van Berlage in Amsterdam,consultant for the restoration of the College Neerlandais (1931) by Marinus Dudok in Paris and for the Centennial Hall (1911-1913) by Max Berg in Wroclaw Poland.

He was invited and participated in the limited competitions for the Nederlands Architectuur Instituut (NAi) in Rotterdam (1988), het Rijksmuseum92004), the Stedelijk Museum(2005) and the Hermitage(2005) all in Amsterdam.

From 1996 till 2006 he was the supervisor of architecture of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol,he is a member of the supervising teams of among others het Hart van Zuid in Hengelo,de Spoorzone in Tilburg, and of the Afsluitdijk.

Recognition

In 1999 Henket won the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds Prize for his oeuvre]]. In 2003 he was appointed a Knight in the Orde van de Nederlandse Leeuw (Order of the Dutch Lion). In 2004 he and Wessel de Jonge won the BNA Kubus, a prize of the Dutch Federation of Architects because of their revitalization of architectioral heritage. Henket also won the Victor de Steursprijs, Scheudersprijs for subterranean building and the Bouwprijs 2005. In 2007 the Fries Museum in Leeuwarden and the Glaspaleis in Heerlen honored him with an exhibition of his work. In 2013 together with Wessel de Jonge he received the World Monuments Fund Knoll Prize for Modernism.In 2015 he was made an Honorary Fellow of the RIAI.

Publications