Willem van Tijen (Wormerveer 1894 - Heemstede 1974) was a visionary architect. He was a pioneer of new building, stood at the cradle of social housing with his Rotterdam architectural firm and became an iconic figure in the Dutch built landscape. Many have known or will remember his housing estates, gallery flats, standard houses, schools and retirement homes. They had a profound impact on postwar life and living, in which the architect was always driven by the conviction that architecture was a means of improving everyday life.