Brother of Johannes Antonius (Jan) 1896-1966 and Nicolaas (Nico) 1908-1986. Son of Leonardus van der Laan, 1864-1942 Hans had entered the order of St. Benedict in 1929 and had developed into a true thinker. He stayed in the monastery at Oosterhout and in 1968 moved to the monastery of St. Benedictusberg in Lemiers for which he himself had designed the abbey church. Hans wrote about the doctrine of plastic number, a doctrine by which he wanted to bring architecture to a higher order through the right measures and proportions. Together with brother Nicolaas (Nico) van der Laan (1908-1986), Hans taught the course "church architecture" in 's-Hertogenbosch from 1945 to 1973 and built in the style of the Bossche School that he developed.