Wiel Arets

[1] From 1995-2002 he was the dean of the Berlage Institute in Rotterdam, where he introduced the idea of 'progressive-research' and co-founded the school's architectural journal named HUNCH.

[3] While studying Arets co-founded the architectural journal Wiederhall and organized a series of visiting lecturers at the TU/e that included the architects Zaha Hadid, Tadao Ando and Peter Eisenmann, among others.

'[3]In 2004 Arets completed the library of Utrecht University, situated in the Uithof area of the campus designed by OMA which dictated a strict orthogonal requirement for all buildings.

Within its crisp black envelope Wiel Arets has carved out an arsenal of different spaces – some low, some high, some wide, some spacious, some compressed, some bright, some dark.

'[3]In 2011 Arets' studio won an international competition to design the IJhal at Amsterdam Centraal Station, part of the city's plan to revitalize the waterfront by reconnecting it to the river IJ.,[6] and recently finished construction on the Allianz Headquarters in Zürich, Switzerland.

[13] Of the importance of such a 'progressive-research' based theme Arets states: 'That's why, when I became Dean, I changed the name to the Berlage Institute Laboratory for Architecture, I wanted to invite people to come do their research alongside students and to publish their work with the studios.

The research, the production of the students, the publication, the seminars, the field trips, the lectures that were happening – all had to be part of one thing.

And then, at the end of the year, you have a result, which is presented in the school's publication, HUNCH, which was originally edited by Jennifer Sigler.