On the last Monday of May we hosted Allard Leijten (Leyten Vastgoed) and Jules Hercules (Ovium). An evening of real estate development and inversment. All hosts could learn something from this on the terrace of restaurant Huson.

Leyten Vastgoed is an independent real estate developer and investor. They invest primarily in self-developed property with its own development and property management organization. Allard, together with his brother, leads the company that, in my opinion, realizes high-quality buildings. Ovium advises real estate companies, multinationals and financial institutions. Jules has a history at Robeco, Deloitte and Lips Capital Group and since 2008 he has been a partner at Ovium. Jules creates a business case for various developers and investors for (re) development of a building or location.

In quick speed this evening we explained how real estate financing works. The distinction between a family business and an institutional organization became clear. And I did not expect this to be so creative. More of this type of guests for the next diners!

At the end of April, we had a Souper two Rotterdam based photographers: Ossip van Duivenbode and Hans Werlemann.

Ossip (1981) studied History of Architecture and then worked at AIR, the architecture center of Rotterdam. Since 2010 he has been working as an independent architectural photographer. He photographs for various architectural firms in the Netherlands. Hans (1948) has become a photographer because of all kinds of jobs and coincidences. The impressive scale models from the early days of O.M.A and the early work of the office were photographed by him at an impressive level. Until now, he is photographing the work of O.M.A. Two typical citizens of Rotterdam, two 'accidental' photographers, two totally different generations.

A nice conversation about photography and Rotterdam was born at the table in restaurant Huson. During the evening, more similarities between Ossip and Hans came up. An infectious enthusiasm is not tied to age, as is continuous experimentation in their own field of photography.

Two cultural entrepreneurs joined us at the table in March: product designer Bertjan Pot and spatial designer Ruud Reutelingsperger.


Bertjan Pot is a designer, probably best known for his Random Light (1999). The light started as a material research, which is basically the starting point of each product created by Bertjan Pot. The outcome is usually an interior product showing a fascination for techniques, structures, patterns and colors. Most experiments start quite impulsively by a certain curiosity for how things would function or how something would look. From there Pot takes on challenges with manufacturers to explore possibilities and push the boundaries a bit. The reward for each challenge is a new one.

Ruud Reutelingsperger is part of the Observatorium group, a studio for art in public space and place-making in Rotterdam, founded in 1997. The partners are Geert van de Camp, André Dekker, Lieven Poutsma and Ruud Reutelingsperger, living and working in Rotterdam with backgrounds in visual art, architecture, literature and education. Through iconic architectural works of art and participatory processes, they provide new meanings and appropriate use to squares, parks, industrial estates or city ruins in transformation.
The portfolio of both designers is impressive. But the evening was remarkably enough about entrepreneurship. So good designers and a business attitude go together.

The first Souper of 2018 was with Oliver Thill (partner Atelier Kempe Thill) and Gert Jan te Velde (partner Van Schagen architects).

Oliver is very internationally oriented and realizes housing projects in France, Belgium, Germany and sometimes in the Netherlands. Gert Jan mainly transforms post-war districts in the Netherlands. A beautiful evening of housing in which Oliver and Gerd Jan told about their careful way of working, the cultural embedding of the designs and a love for building technology. A good start to 2018.


Daan Bakker (Daf-architecten), Jeroen de Willigen (DeZwarteHond), Jasper de Haan (architect) and I invite each month a number of colleagues to eat, drink and discuss about our profession, the city of Rotterdam and related matters.

The last supper of 2017 did not go as we hoped. We were pleased with Hans Ibelings The Architecture Observer) and Ed Taverne (emeritus professor of history of architecture and urban design at the University of Groningen). Hans was there on time out of the cold Canada. Ed unfortunately did not manage to travel from Groningen to Rotterdam on last December 11. Canadian weather affected the country. A lot of snow makes highways and railways impassable.

The large amounts of snow outside also gave us a reason to let Hans update us on Canada. I always think that this country is an ideal combination of the good from America and Europe, but nothing is less true. Hans told us with relevant details about life in this immense country. The country is more capitalistic and less social than you think you see from a distance.

Hans has been away from the Netherlands for a while, but he keeps a close eye on our architectural field in the Netherlands. He sees things from a distance sharp and gave a clear analysis on the architectural climate here, the decline of the institutions involved and possible causes. We tried to indicate exactly where and when this started. At the same time, he put the problems into perspective. In Canada, nothing really interesting happens in the field of urban design and architecture he assured us.

With Ed, we undoubtedly had more about the current discourse within the Dutch architecture world and more about their common interest in Eastern Europe. I did not want to miss the short course on Canada.