J.F. Pot-Keegstra (1908-1997) Joop Pot gained his first practical experience at the office of H.Th. Wijdeveld, where from 1927 to 1930 he worked on the construction of a number of country houses, the Dutch Pavilion in Antwerp and set design for the Lustrum Games in Leiden. From 1932 to 1933 he worked for Wieger Bruin. From 1932 to 1936 he headed the drawing office of N.V. Bouwbedrijf H. van Saane in Amsterdam. From 1937 to 1939 he was bureau chief at Bureau B. van den Nieuwen Amstel, from 1939 to 1940 bureau chief at Bureau Eibink and Snellebrand. From January 1, 1940 to August 31, 1941, he was employed as an architectural draughtsman and supervisor with the Rijksgebouwendienst. He then accepted a position at N.V. Bouwbedrijf H. van Saane in Amsterdam. Koos Keegstra was born in Amsterdam to Frisian parents. Her mother was a teacher and her father director of the Municipal Giro. In addition, he was chairman of the Housing Association 'De Samenwerking' in Amsterdam. He worked with Wibaut and Keppler and, with architects such as Staal and Van Epen, was responsible for the choice of architects. Koos Keegstra visited many building projects with her father. After the H.B.S. at the Amsterdam Lyceum, she studied architecture at the MTS (now HTS) in Haarlem. She was the first female student there. A special wardrobe was set up for her. After the MTS, she went to work at the Heineken and Kuipers architectural firm and continued her studies at the Hooger Bouwkunst Onderricht (predecessor of the Academy of Architecture) at the Stadhouderskade in Amsterdam. There she was the first woman to obtain the diploma of architect there. Here she also met her husband Joop Pot. They married in 1938. After her training as an architect, Koos Keegstra spent some time at the housekeeping school to gain insight into the practical organization of homes. From 1930 to 1932, Koos Keegstra worked as a draughtswoman at the Buildings Department of Amsterdam's Public Works Department. From 1933 to 1936 she was a writer at the Department of Building and Housing Supervision in Amsterdam and from 1936 to 1938 she went back to work for the Public Works Department of Amsterdam, first as a draughtswoman and later as a technical supervisor. The first commissions Joop Pot and Koos Pot-Keegstra received together after their marriage in 1938 were the Oranjehof (1939-1942) in Amsterdam and the Bergerhof (1941-1942) in Alkmaar. Both were housing projects commissioned by N.V. Bouwbedrijf H. van Saane, the construction company for which Joop Pot had been employed for several years. These first assignments can also be seen as the beginning of their joint architectural firm, which existed until Joop Pot's death in 1972. After that, Koos Pot-Keegstra continued the firm under the same name. Most of their joint oeuvre consists of housing. They each had their own angle of approach. Joop Pot was mainly concerned with details and architectural form, Koos Pot-Keegstra was mainly concerned with floor plans and spatiality. The Bergerhof was the first Alkmaar neighborhood with strip construction and a completely new main layout of the houses, namely the so-called split-level layout. This offered many possibilities and, above all, much space gain. In this and later housing projects, it is evident that Koos Pot-Keegstra in particular designed from the practical and functional layout of the home. In this she connected with the ideas of New Objectivity and Good Living. After the war they participated in various reconstruction projects: housing construction in Monster, Domburg, Zandvoort, Badhoevedorp and on the Oostzeedijk in Rotterdam, and schools in Breskens, Hoofddorp and Wassenaar. They also collaborated on projects in the Western Garden Cities of Amsterdam and Buitenveldert as part of Van Eesteren's design for Amsterdam's General Expansion Plan. It was a period of material scarcity, when construction had to be fast and cheap. The dimensions of the houses were reduced to a minimum. For example, the workers' houses in Monster were not allowed to exceed 275 cubic meters, which had to accommodate dining kitchen and living room, three bedrooms, bathroom and toilet. The introduction of the eat-in kitchen took place during this period, which placed higher demands on the furnishings: the pots and pans invisible, stored in cupboards, and the whole set up neat and cozy. In addition, a good ventilation system was needed so as not to be among the cooking odors during meals. For the Pot-Keegstra couple of architects, these difficult circumstances presented a challenge. They set themselves the goal of reducing complicated building plans to great simplicity without any "prettification. According to them, the beauty of a design lay in simplicity and strict economy. They sought it in the proportions of the building, which had to be as simple as possible. From the early 1960s the firm received many commissions for housing for the elderly, including the Maarten Lutherhuis, the Osdorperhof and the Willem Mackenziehuis, all three in Amsterdam. Most of the imagination and creativity was used in designing the communal areas such as the entrance and hall, the dining room, the reading room and other meeting places. Following on from the commissions for housing for the elderly, the Pot-Keegstra firm received commissions for housing other similar housing groups. In addition to various commissions for schools, these included commissions for the housing of special groups, e.g., the student flat at Boutenslaan in Eindhoven (1957-1959), the Nursing Home of the Academic Hospital in Leiden (1964 - 1971), the student housing for the NIOZ (Netherlands Institute for Sea Research on Texel, 1961-1975). Finally, the firm owes its most famous assignment to its vast experience in community architecture: the design for the Penitentiaire Inrichting Amsterdam Overamstel, the Bijlmerbajes, in Amsterdam (1964-1978). The design of the Bijlmerbajes was an example of a so-called community prison. The design was based on the public housing model, in which simple housing units were linked and stacked into towers. Collective facilities were used to compensate for individual austerity, a concept frequently used in housing the elderly, nurses and students. Although the architects Pot and Pot-Keegstra were guided in their designs mainly by the functionality of the buildings and were averse to 'prettification', their buildings show affinity with the Delft School through the use of traditional building forms and the choice of materials. This is especially true in the early period, such as at the Oranjehof with the arched fields above the windows, the decorative brickwork at the Bergerhof and the housing projects in Zandvoort that refer to traditional stylistic devices. In their later work, these elements disappear and instead there is clear brick construction, as, for example, in the conversion of a fashion house on the Keizersgracht in Amsterdam (1962) that still looks sleek and modern in 2004. Modern building techniques and a moderately modern design characterize their later work. Their best-known work is the Bijlmerbajes, whose construction consisted of concrete columns covered with smooth, white prefabricated facade panels. The design of this complex was dominated by their attempt to make the housing of prisoners as humane as possible. Education Koos Keegstra-Pot: MTS Haarlem architecture department/apprentice/1927-1930; Hooger Bouwkunst Onderricht (predecessor of the Academy of Architecture) Amsterdam/apprentice/1931-1935 Secondary activities: VBO Amsterdam/teacher/1953-1954; Club of graduates of the VHBO/member/1943-1945; BNA/member/1957; Genootschap Architectura et Amicitia/1956/member; Comité Waardige Universiteitsstad/participant/1956-1957; Schoonheidscommissie Gemeente Haarlem/1956-1958; Commissie Editorial BNA/1957, 1964; Schoonheidscommissie van de nieuwe stad Amsterdam/member/1959-1962