Biography
Wiel Arets
Wiel Arets was born in 1955. In 1984 he established Wiel Arets Architect & Associates in his hometown of Heerlen, the Netherlands, after graduating from the Technical University of Eindhoven the previous year. From 1984-1989 he extensively travelled throughout North America, Russia and Japan. 1986 he co-founded the architectural journal Wiederhall. In 1988 he began teaching at the AA in London, paving the way for a future in worldwide academic and research-based teaching. In 1993 construction commenced on his design for the Academy of Art & Architecture, in Maastricht, the Netherlands, propelling him into the world of internationally recognized architectural prestige.
In 1997 Wiel Arets designed and built his future home and studio outside the city center of Maastricht. Upon completion, the studio was relocated from Heerlen to Maastricht. A second office was opened in Amsterdam in 2004, coinciding with the renaming of the firm to Wiel Arets Architects. After becoming active in Switzerland, a third office was opened in Zürich during 2008.
Wiel Arets' teaching curriculum vitae includes the world's most important and influential architecture schools and universities, including: the Architectural Academies of Amsterdam and Rotterdam from 1986-1989; the AA of London from 1988-1992; from 1991-1994 he was a visiting professor at The Copper Union and Columbia University in New York, USA, the Hochschule für Angewandte Kunst in Vienna and the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen; from 1995-1998 he was Dean of the Berlage Institute, Postgraduate Laboratory of Architecture in Amsterdam, and held the Berlage Institute Professorship at the Technical University Delft until 2009; in 2004 he accepted tenure professorship at the UdK in Berlin; in 2010 he was the Ruth and Norman Moore Visiting Professor at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. Since 2003 he has served on the advisory board of Princeton University.
In 1995 Wiel Arets marked his initial foray into the fields of mass and limited product design when Lensvelt produced his Stealth office furniture series, originally designed for the AZL Pension Fund in Heerlen. In 2001 he began collaborating with the Italian kitchenware company Alessi, and the Belgian design studio of Quinze & Milan. Since then, the collaboration with Alessi has matured into a full range of kitchen products as well as the Il Bagno dOt bathroom series. Additionally three unique chairs have been both prototyped and manufactured.
The theoretical writings and works of Wiel Arets are consistently published in all of the world's most important international architectural journals. Several monographs, such as El Croquis, have also been produced on the portfolio of work.
Wiel Arets' projects have been bestowed and honored with some of the highest achievements in architecture and product design: the 'Charlotte Köhler Award' in 1988, the ‘Rotterdam Maaskant Award’ in 1989 for the oeuvre, the ‘Mies van der Rohe Pavilion Award for European Architecture’ with special mention 'Emerging Architect' in 1994 for the Academy of Art & Architecture in Maastricht, the 'UIA Nomination' as one of 'the world’s one thousandth best buildings of the 20th century' for the Academy of Art & Architecture, Maastricht, the 'Rietveld Prize' in 2005 for the University Library Utrecht, the 'BNA Kubus Award' for the entire oeuvre in 2005, the 2010 'Good Design Award' for the Alessi products Salt.it, Pepper.it, Screw.it and Il Bagno dOt, as well as the 2010 'Amsterdam Architecture Prize'.
