Rients Dijkstra
rientsd@maxwan.com1961 NL
Rients Dijkstra is principal of Maxwan Architects and urbanists, senior architect and urban designer. He has studied architecture and urban design at the Delft University of Technology. There he graduated with honors in 1989. He worked with architects Frits van Dongen (de ArchitectenCie) and Rem Koolhaas (OMA). In his capacity as project architect and urbanist for the Office for Metropolitan Architecture, he has contributed to the Lille 'Euralille' Master Plan (1990-1991) and he was team leader and chief designer for the Amsterdam Y-Oevers (banks of the river Y) Master Plan (1992) and the Tram tunnel in Den Hague (1993). In '93 Rients Dijkstra was invited to design the Urban Master Plan for Leidsche Rijn, a new town of 30'000 houses. This unusual first assignment kick-started his own practice: Maxwan architects and urbanists. Rients Dijkstra has been a member of Ken Livingstone’s Design for London Advisory Group. He is supervising architect for Barking Riverside and a member of the Barking Riverside Design Advisory Panel and he is supervisor for both the Rotterdam and Leiden Central Station area master plans. Rients Dijkstra is appointed Dutch State Advisor for Infrastructure and City. He teaches and lectures on a regular basis.
Hiroki Matsuura
hirokim@maxwan.com1973 JP
Hiroki Matsuura was born in Tokyo, Japan. He is principal of Maxwan Architects and urbanists, senior architect and urban designer. He studied architecture at the Tokyo University of the Arts (Tokyo Geijutsu Daigaku) and the Southern California Institute of Architecture (Sci-Arc) in Los Angeles. He is responsible for a wide variety of projects ranging from large scale urban development to interior design. Under his supervision 20 award winning international competitions including 16 first prizes were done over the last 5 years.
His Japanese background and education combined with his professional training in Holland Hiroki has developed a unique talent to modify complexity into smart simplicity. He has a hands-on mentality, is direct and effective yet informal and collaborative.
Hiroki is in charge of the international business development of Maxwan. He regularly attends workshops and symposia throughout the world. He recently lectured for global business leaders at the Moscow International Forum for Innovative Development and he contributed to the International Forum “Russian House of the Future”.
Hiroki has taught at the Berlage Institute in Rotterdam and is regularly invited to teach and lecture at the Technical University in Delft and the Academy of Architecture in Rotterdam. He frequently lectures and advises professionals on urbanism and housing developments.
Martijn Anhalt
martijna@maxwan.comMartijn Anhalt studied architecture at the Technical University Delft where he graduated in 2002. Before his studies, he has been involved with image and sound installation artists Tarlo Bedaux, with whom he has performed in renowned contemporary art exhibitions all over Europe such as the Documenta8 in Kassel 1987. His professional experience as an architect includes Paul Verhey Architecten were he worked on the design and construction of private villas. At Maxwan Martijn is a committed and reliable member of the maxwan team. With strong insite and overview he has been responsible for a variety of Maxwan projects including a study commissioned by the Dutch Ministry of Transport ('Missing Link'), a two layer parking deck ('Panaan'), the design of an Apartment hotel, the Oostenburger Eiland Master Plan in Amsterdam, the design studies "Kleinpolderplein" and "Oud Charlois" in Rotterdam and currently the prizewinning Ruggeveld masterplan in Antwerp.
Sharmila Bisesar
sharmilab@maxwan.comSharmila Bisesar has completed her education at M.E.A.O in Rotterdam in 1987. She has worked for various employers before joining Maxwan in 1997. At Maxwan Sharmila is responsible for everything concerning employees and financial administration.
Artur Borejszo
arturb@maxwan.comArtur Borejszo obtained his architecture and architectural engineering degree from the Technical University of Lodz, Poland with distinction. In addition to that, he developed special 3D CAD computer skills through completing courses and seminars at expert training centers. After his education Artur worked professionally at offices in Poland as well as at Frederick Clifford Gibson Architect & Associates in San Francisco USA, were he was employed from 2002 to 2008. Artur joined Maxwan in 2008. Since then he contributed to a large number of projects and competitions such as Barking Riverside, SkillBill, Leiden CS and the prizewinning competitions Machelen Diegem, Marstall Platz Hannover, Ostrava, and Magdeburg. Artur was project leader for the competition “Cultural HUB” in Genk, which was awarded 2nd prize. With his excellent graphic and rendering abilities, he is responsible for a large part of the imagery Maxwan is known for.
Elena Chevtchenko
elenac@maxwan.comElena Chevtchenko obtained her Master of Science degree in Architecture, Urbanism and Building Sciences from the TU Delft in 2005. From 2003 to 2007 she has been an active member of Supersudaca, a network organization the purpose of which is to generate knowledge, undertake research and exchange expertise in the fields of urban planning and architecture. In 2005 she has been coordinator of "AL_Caribe", a Supersudaca research project commissioned by the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam. The project was awarded the prize for best entry by the Biennale Board. After her studies she worked as professional designer and project leader at Juurlink [+] Geluk Urban Design and Landscape. In 2009 she joined Maxwan were at present she is projectleader of two highway-design projects in Belgium.
Leena Cho
leenac@maxwan.comLeena holds a B.A. from Wellesley College and a Master's degree in landscape architecture with distinction from Harvard University (2009) where she was awarded the Jacob Weidenman Prize for excellence in design, Studio Best for outstanding studio projects, and Penny White Fellowship for her research in arctic landscape. During her studies she gained experience at Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates working on several international projects in the U.S., Canada and South Korea; and was a teaching assistant and review critic for design studios at Harvard. Topics of her past and ongoing research include infrastructure, ecology, pop culture and sustainability.
At Maxwan Leena has contributed to a large number of landscape and architectural designs, including the prizewinning projects Marstall Platz Hannover 2020+ and Ostrava, Czech Republic. Her remarkable design and presentation skills make her an indispensable member of the Maxwan design team.
Rene Heijne
reneh@maxwan.comRene Heijne has studied architecture at the Delft University of Technology. There he graduated with Rem Koolhaas. During his education and after graduating in 1996 he worked for Ton Venhoeven and Rem Koolhaas. At O.M.A. he worked as an architect and project leader on the Tram Tunnel in The Hague (1992-1996), the prize winning competition for the libraries of Jussieu in Paris (1994) and the Amsterdam Y-Oevers Master Plan (1992). In 1997 he left O.M.A. with two projects of O.M.A. and started his own firm Ruimtelab. Ruimtelab has built several housing projects and performed research projects such as Flex Buildings and Time-based Architeture. Ruimtelab has won several prizes, honorable mentions, scholarships and foundings.
In 2007 Rene was asked to be in charge of the architecture department of VHP and to become chairman of the VHP management team. For VHP he worked on several urban planning projects amongst which Woerden Snellerpoort. Rene is member of the quality team. Rene is founder of ‘Langzame Stad’, an ongoing research project on infrastructure. Since 2001 Rene has been teaching in Gent, Delft, Rotterdam and Amsterdam.
Jason Hilgefort
jasonh@maxwan.comJason Hilgefort studied urban planning and urban design at The University of Cincinnati USA (graduating in 2000), and architecture at The University of British Columbia CA. His working experience ranges from New York (Ehrenkrantz Eckstut and Kuhn) to Mumbai (Rahul Mehrotra). Jason Hilgefort is a committed and reliable member of the maxwan team. With strong insight and overview he has been responsible as team leader for a variety of maxwan projects. Since joining Maxwan he has been involved in Moscow A101, Valkenburg and Central District Rotterdam team. In 2009 he managed the design team for a new Town Center in Quingpu, China based around a series of water based landscapes and he became project leader of the Barking Riverside Supervision project as well as its public space visioning and guidelining process. Currently Jason is project leader of Maxwan competition projects.
Aleksandar Hrib
aleksandarh@maxwan.comAleksandar obtained his master of architecture at the Belgrade University in 2010. During his studies he was granted several scholarships for best student by the Republic of Serbia and won the 1st prize in the ESAL company competition for the best student project of the year 2007, and 1st prize of the Port of Belgrade in 2010. Aleksandar’s skills and interests range from architecture to film and photography. He organized and participated in exhibitions and workshops in Belgrade, Pacevo, Brussels and Zagreb. His curiosity, versatility and exceptional design ability enrich the Maxwan team in many ways.
Since joining the office, Aleksandar has contributed to our most recent projects in Belgium such as the master plan for Machelen-Diegem, a highway design in Limburg and the project “Groene Singel” in Antwerp.
Nobuki Ogasahara
nobukio@maxwan.comNobuki Ogasahara obtained his Bachelor of Architecture degree at Waseda University, Japan in 2004, and his Master of Architecture degree at Yale School of Architecture, USA in 2008. During his studies he was teaching assistant of Prof. Joel Sanders and Prof Hilary Sample at Yale University. He took part in the organization of exhibitions and architecture workshops (Waseda University) . He has gained working experience during internships at Shigeru Ban architects, Oshio Shoji + Takeshi Goto, Arakawa Shusaku and Kazuhiko Namba in Tokyo, and at the Office for Metropolitan Architecture in Rotterdam. Nobuki was awarded the Kenneth A. Householder Scholarship in 2006, the Wendy Elisabeth Blanning Prize in 2007 and the Frank D. Israel Scholarship in 2008. Nobuki joined Maxwan in 2008 and became a full member of our design team in 2009. He has contributed with exceptional reliability and enthusiasm to a wide range of Maxwan projects such as SkillBill, Qingpu and Open City; additionally he was the project leader of the Open Fort 400 competition. At present he is involved with the Leiden Central Station Master Plan.
Karen Rodrigues
karenr@maxwan.comKaren Rodrigues has studied architecture and building technology at the Technical University Delft and at the University of Coimbra (Potugal).
She graduated in 2004 and has ever since been working at Maxwan. Besides being the general office manager and personal assistant of Rients Dijkstra, Karen is involved in acquisition, tenders and public relations.
Rene Sangers
renes@maxwan.comRené Sangers studied architecture at Technical University Delft and architectural engineering at the Hogeschool Utrecht. He graduated in Delft in 1993. Before joining Maxwan he worked with DKV Architects in Rotterdam and on independent commissions. René is an architect with a wide experience in developing and executing architectural and urban projects. Within Maxwan he is the link between design and realization, feasibility and practice. Rene has been involved in all of Maxwan’s building projects (such as 14 Houses Eindhoven, Office building F&I, 47 bridges in Leidsche Rijn, Reality machines and House G) so far. Presently René is project leader for the design, and step by step execution, of the Machelen-Diegem master plan in Belgium.
Kris Schaasberg
kriss@maxwan.comKris Schaasberg studied architecture at the Technical University Delft and the ETH Zürich. He graduated in Delft in 2007. His professional experience ranges from free lance work and internships at SeArch (Amsterdam) and Artgeneering (Rotterdam) to managing a construction site in Tanzania and the design and construction of a temporary lounge bar.
Kris joined Maxwan in 2007. After being responsible for the Hackney Wick + Fish Island master plan in London and the GIT-Terrain project in den Haag he is currently leading the Leiden Central Station Area Master plan team.
Ignas Uogintas
ignasu@maxwan.comIgnas studied architecture and urban planning at the Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Lithuania, were his graduation project was awarded for the best project of bachelor’s architecture and urbanism in Lithuania, and the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia (Spain), as well as arts at the Siauli Art School in Lithuania. At present he is studying for his master of architecture at the Academy van Baukunst in Amsterdam.
Ignas gained working experience in various architectural offices in Lithuania, Poland and Spain and attended and organized architecture workshops such as the "Urban Design of Ogmios District workshop", were he won the first prize in collaboration with Karres en Brands landscape architects.
In 2010 he joined Maxwan as an intern, were he is currently involved in a few of the office’s competition proposals.
Harm te Velde
harmv@maxwan.comHarm te Velde is a highly experienced, all round 3D CAD artist and systems operator. He has been educated at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in ‘s-Hertogenbosh and the Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam.
Harm masters a wide range of 3D software programs and modeling techniques which enables him to meet the most complex of modeling demands. His artistic background and keen eye for legibility of complex imagery are of great use when working towards the final output. Harm has produced many of the 3D renderings and animations that have earned Maxwan international acclaim.
Olivier Vet
olivierv@maxwan.comOlivier studied interior architecture and architecture at the Henry van de Velde Institute, Antwerp (BE) and the Fontys University of Applied Sciences (AAS) in Tilburg (NL). Before joining Maxwan, he has gained professional experience in architecture and urbanism at the offices Crepain Binst Architecture and OMGEVING in Antwerp, and at Vandehoek Coenegracht + Kromwijk in Maastricht. From his start at Maxwan in 2011, his solid background and strong organizational skills enabled him to perform as a project leader for the design of a Retail Centre in Deinze, BE. He has contributed to the urban design project Kurz Center / Schwäbisch Hall, DE and is currently team leader of the project Centrum As Mechelen, BE.
Franziska Wien
franziskaw@maxwan.comFranziska Wien has studied architecture at the Technical University Darmstadt (Germany) were she graduated in 1995. After her studies she worked for RCR architects in Olot (Spain) on the design of the law faculty in Girona and attended the Berlage Institute in Amsterdam. At Maxwan Franziska is involved in small scale architectural projects and responsible for tenders and acquisition.
