The architect Piet Elling was an exceptional functionalist. He gave many of his designs a deeper, spiritual value through classical building forms, mathematical structures and expressive, primary colors. Several times he engaged De Stijl artist Bart van der Leck to complete his projects with a color scheme. Elling was also a true "social" architect, who sought to give his work a social basis. Best known are the residential houses Elling designed in the 1930s in 't Gooi and the surroundings of Utrecht, his hometown. After World War II he was associated with Ben Merkelbach for several years, and from 1957 he was a professor at the Technische Hogeschool Delft. During this period he rose to become one of the leading architects in the Netherlands. Among his best works are the VARA studios in Hilversum, the secretariat building of the Royal Jaarbeurs in Utrecht, the Rijnhotel in Rotterdam and the station post buildings near Central Station in Amsterdam. Elling's ideal was a meticulous coordination between architecture and floor plan, between interior and color scheme. There had to be a "harmonious unity," he once wrote. He aspired to the same in his personal life: his ideal could only be achieved when there was also an indissoluble unity between his life and work.