School’s Out! #11 with Reinier de Graaf

The first School’s Out! after the summer holiday was a special one! Architect and author Reinier de Graaf has unveiled the manuscript of his forthcoming novel ‘The Masterplan’. Like his highly acclaimed collection of essays ‘Four Walls and a Roof’, his latest book is a merciless meditation on the paradoxes and dilemmas of the architectural profession. As a novel it is also a highly personal account of the profession’s psychology.

The presentation took the form of a conversation with Michelle Provoost and Wouter Vanstiphout, members of the Independent School for the City’s Dean Team. The event was live-streamed on 25 September 2020.

About Reinier de Graaf
Reinier de Graaf is a partner in the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), where he leads building and masterplanning projects in Europe, Russia and the Middle East, including Holland Green in London, the new Timmerhuis in Rotterdam, G-Star Headquarters in Amsterdam, De Rotterdam, and the Norra Tornen residential towers in Stockholm. In 2002, he co-founded AMO, the think tank of OMA, and produced amongst others The Image of Europe: an exhibition illustrating the history of the European Union, Zeekracht: a strategic masterplan for the North Sea, and Roadmap 2050: A Practical Guide to a Prosperous, Low-Carbon Europe with the European Climate Foundation.

De Graaf has published extensively (see below) and lectures frequently in the academic and professional realms, including the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, Strelka, PennDesign and the University of Cambridge. After co-authoring three books on behalf of OMA, De Graaf’s wrote his first book under personal title Four Walls and a Roof: The Complex Nature of a Simple Profession, which appeared in 2017.