UN Studio Ben Van Berkel & Caroline Bos

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Biography

Founded in 1988 by Ben van Berkel and Caroline Bos, UNStudio is a Dutch architectural practice specialising in urban development, infrastructure and masterplan projects.
Its central offices are in Amsterdam and Shanghai. This second office (UNStudio Asia) was opened in 2009 and was initially opened to work on the design of the famous Raffles City in Hangzhou.
In 25 years of experience working all over the world, the studio has constantly expanded its scope to offer full-service design through on-going collaboration with an extensive multinational network of consultants, partners and professionals specialising in various fields.
The studio has worked on more than seventy projects in Asia, Europe and North America, and has recently been commissioned to work on projects in China, South Korea, Singapore and Georgia, among other places.
UNStudio’s methodological approach is characterised by a high degree of flexibility, use of the most advanced digital design techniques and collaboration with prominent professionals in a number of related disciplines.
Without starting out with a pre-constituted style, UNStudio attempts to develop the broadest possible vision of the construction site, analysing the issues involved and the potential for use and development of the land.
UNStudio has implemented a long series of projects including such classics of modern architecture as the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart (Germany).
As van Berkel himself says, this imposing museum (winner of the prestigious Hugo Häring Preis in 2009) is in many ways the studio’s manifesto.
Other well-known projects include the multipurpose Raffles City district in Hangzhou (China), a mixed use development in an urban landscape. In the Netherlands, the studio built Agora Theatre in Lelystad, famous for its unusual use of light and colour, and one of the landmarks of modern Rotterdam, the Erasmus Bridge, a point of contact between the historic city centre and new outlying districts. In Korea they built the luxurious Galleria Department Store (Seoul) and came up with urban and architectural plans for 81 residential towers in I’Park City (Suwon).
In 2011 Ben van Berkel was awarded the Kenzo Tange Visiting Professor’s Chair at Harvard University Graduate School of Design.
 
SELECTED PROJECTS
 
- Canaletto, London (UK) 2015
- Arnhem Central Station, Arnhem (Netherlands) 2015
- Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD), Singapore, 2014
- Raffles City, Hangzhou (China), 2014
- King David - The Building International Airport, Kutaisi (Georgia), 2013
- Ardmore Residence at 7 Ardmore Park, Singapore, 2013
- Centre for Virtual Engineering (ZVE), Stuttgart (Germany), 2012
- Haus am Weinberg, Stuttgart (Germany), 2011
- Galleria Centercity Facade and Interior, Cheonan (Korea), 2010
- Theatre Agora, Lelystad (Netherlands), 2007
- Mercedes-Benz Museum, Stuttgart (Germany), 2006
- Erasmus Bridge, Rotterdam (Netherlands), 1996