Life and career
Wiel Arets was born on 6 May 1955 in Heerlen, Netherlands, to Wiel Arets (1929) and Mia Heuts (1931). His father was a book printer and his mother was a fashion designer, both from whom he learned respect for the tradition of craft and a love of books and reading.[3] He briefly studied engineering, and then physics, before ultimately deciding on architecture. He divides his time between Chicago, Maastricht, Berlin, Amsterdam and Zürich, living and working in each city. He is married and has two children. Arets' work is generally characterized by a minimalist, geometric and austere approach that responds to local contingencies in a flexible way, with Arets explaining:
'We want our buildings to fit into the existing context, yet remain flexible and open to change'.[4]
During his studies at the Technical University of Eindhoven (TU/e) Arets became fascinated by the works and words of Paul Valéry, Giorgio Grassi and Cesare Cattaneo, quickly developing his admiration for 'the dialogue' as an operative method, best exemplified by Valéry's 'Eupalinos' and Cattaneo's 'Giovanni e Giuseppe'.[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. Subsequently, Arets organized the first European exhibition of Tadao Ando's work.[3] It was during this period that Arets 'rediscovered' the work of Dutch architect Frits Peutz, who transformed the city of Heerlen from an industrial coal mining hub and into a modern city through his many built commissions funded by the coal industry, most recognizably the Glaspaleis. With the decline of industry the city lost most of its status as an industrial area in Limburg and Frits Peutz faded from architectural prominence.
As a student Arets undertook extensive research in the archives of Peutz's office, eventually producing the monograph 'F.P.J Peutz Architekt 1916-1966' (1981) and an accompanying traveling exhibition.[3] After graduating from the TU/e in 1983 Arets travelled extensively throughout Russia, the United States and Japan. While in Japan Arets visited and interviewed several prominent architects including Fumihiko Maki, Kazuo Shinohara, Itsuko Hasegawa and Tadao Ando, later publishing these interviews and articles in the Dutch architecture magazine de Architect.[3] Arets first garnered international architectural attention with the completion of the Maastricht Academy of Art and Architecture in 1993, described by Kenneth Frampton as:
'Revitalizing an existing institution within the old urban core in such a way as to transform both the institution and the urban fabric...All of this was achieved without abandoning for the moment the minimalist expression of an architecture degree zero, derived in part from Sol LeWitt and in part from Tadao Ando.'[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. The library's exterior glazing is screen printed with an image of bamboo shoots created by the photographer Kim Zwarts, returning as a tactile imprinted surface pattern on the library's interior prefabricated concrete panel walls, which are painted black. This 'tactility' has since returned to more of Arets' projects in the form of imprinted-concrete or screen printed glass exteriors.[5] Kazuyo Sejima of SANAA remarks of the library:
'The building is fascinating in many ways, but most of all I feel some warm humanism from it. 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. This is a building that would never appear dull. It offers a moment for everyone.'[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.[7]
