(Bonas essay by W. van Moorsel, abridged version) The work of architects Luzia Hartsuyker-Curjel and Enrico Hartsuyker covers both the field of urban planning and housing construction in the second half of the twentieth century. In the 1960s, their urban planning models Biopolis and Hydrobiopolis received much national and international attention because of their radically new principles: no separation of functions, but rather their integration. An example derived from this is the senior center Zonnetrap in Rotterdam-Lombardijen. In social housing, the Hartsuykers distinguished themselves by proposing alternative housing layouts and new spatial solutions. Characteristic are the houses with an open space in the middle, the so-called patio houses, and the wrap-around houses in which no wall connects to the outer perimeter of the house, often with kitchen and wet room in the middle. Small level differences and voids, for a vertical spatial effect, are often used. In addition to these features, Luzia Hartsuyker-Curjel in particular has become known for her so-called "woman-friendly homes" (1980s), in which the traditional hierarchical housing layout gave way to mutually equivalent spaces. The Hartsuykers occupied a somewhat distinct place in the Netherlands. Originating from Switzerland, they looked with admiration, but also with great astonishment, at the way in which social housing came about here. As students of Sigfried Giedion, they were aware of the importance of new developments in architecture such as functionalism, of which numerous good examples can also be found in the Netherlands. However, the way in which this movement was expressed in social housing - by calculating down to the last millimeter, so to speak, how much space a person needs, and by the strictly enforced separation of functions with the accompanying regulations - could count less on their appreciation. This clashed with Giedion's sense of spatial dynamics, which they had learned to develop through his lectures on space and time in architecture and through his broad view of the place of architecture in science, culture and society. Their training abroad also meant that they were able to take a fresh look at and respond to housing construction in the Netherlands. Background Enrico Hartsuyker was born on January 23, 1925, in the Italian city of Genoa to Dutch parents. During his childhood in Italy and Switzerland, where he attended high school and later the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH), he learned to speak fluent German, French and English in addition to Italian and Dutch. Enrico's mother, Helena Laponder, taught him a lot about the culture in the Netherlands. Ideally, Enrico would have liked to go to art school, but at his father's insistence, he ended up studying architecture and urban planning in Zurich at ETH. The Italian cities with their beautiful squares, which he would later write about often, were always in front of his own urban planning views. His parents had no connections to the world of art and architecture. He later found these with the Curjel family in Zurich, after meeting Luzia Curjel at ETH. To the Curjel parents, Enrico and Luzia owe much. Luzia Curjel, born Feb. 5, 1926, in Karlsruhe, came from a family with a rich cultural background. Father Hans Curjel and mother Gabriella Fahrner were well versed in modern visual arts and music. So the Curjel children (Luzia had another brother) grew up in a highly intellectual family, where art, science and politics predominated. In addition to her upbringing, the floor plan of the parental home left a mark on Luzia's life and work. The house was laid out so that you could walk all the way around it, a layout that often recurs in her later work. Switzerland During the war, Luzia attended grammar school at the Höhere Töchterschule (1939-1944). Her mother's monthly report to the Swiss police made a particularly strong impression on her. The stay in Switzerland was accompanied by many problems for the Curjel family. Of great importance was the friendship with the well-known architecture/art historians Sigfried Giedion and his wife Carola Giedion-Welcker. Hans Curjel had studied with Sigfried Giedion in Munich. They became friends for life. Their mutual contacts were almost daily. After the war, Giedion began teaching at ETH, where Luzia and also Enrico were enrolled as students in the meantime. In his teaching, Giedion paid much attention to modern architecture and Dutch architecture in particular, for which there was much appreciation in innovative Swiss circles. Enrico was not the only Dutch student at the ETH. Dick Scheffer, Feiko Glastra van Loon and Aldo van Eyck were the other Dutchmen, with whom the Hartsuykers would later continue their friendship in the Netherlands. Aldo, seven years older, a kind of beacon for the younger Luzia and Enrico, also often visited the Giedions. Coming to the Netherlands. The interest already sparked by Giedion in Dutch modern architecture was the main reason for the Hartsuykers to come to the Netherlands after their marriage and help rebuild. Enrico and Luzia married in 1951, worked at various firms in Switzerland until 1952, and came to the Netherlands in 1953. Despite their enthusiasm for modern architecture, it took the young couple a lot of getting used to. They arrived in a country where reconstruction was in full swing, with social housing as the spearhead of policy. Much and as inexpensively as possible had to be built, while at the same time the layout and composition of the houses had to be socially acceptable. Their friends Aldo van Eyck, Dick Scheffer and the cultural philosopher and politician Jan Kassies, whom they had met at a Summerschool in Salzburg, helped them through the first difficult years. The experiences of living in a housing law house with two small children, Manuela (1954) and Aram (1959), stimulated the Hartsuykers, within the limited framework of the housing law, to come up with other plans of their own. Beginning in 1957, their joint work slowly but surely began to take shape. During the first years, the Hartsuykers worked on system designs for a series of furniture and on housing typologies. There were also some small remodeling assignments and a few commissions for a vacation home in Switzerland, including for Luzia's father. Larger commissions came during the 1960s, first of all the homes on Cannenburg in Amsterdam-Buitenveldert, one of which the Hartsuykers lived in with their children for many years. With these houses they made their mark. Also in the 1960s, they developed their urban planning models Biopolis and Hydrobiopolis, on which the construction of the Zonnetrap retirement center in Rotterdam was partly based (1970). Only from then on did several major commissions follow, such as in Arnhem, Rotterdam and its environs, Amsterdam and its environs, and North Holland. In those assignments, the Hartsuykers tried to apply their residential typologies as much as possible. Throughout their working lives, they continued to tinker with house plans. Even after they ended their agency work in 1996 and moved to Switzerland, they kept working on living-working plans for building a house for elderly artists and architects. In conclusion Looking back at the Hartsuykers' oeuvre, it is worth reflecting on the importance of their work. What is clear is that they - in most cases working within social housing - made their contributions while protesting. Some local and national authorities appreciated their alternative views on how a home should be laid out, but at the same time all the regulations made the practice unruly. Whereas in their time it was difficult to get their designs through, now it appears that not everyone understood the spatial effect of their interiors. Vides are closed again, kitchens are moved, and living rooms are still the most important rooms in the houses. The tradition is persistent. Education: Gymnasium Höhere Töchterschule/1939-1944; ETH Zurich/1944-1949 Additional positions: Editorial board/International Asbestos Review/1962-1963 (about); Council for the Arts/member/1961; competition Wohnungwettbewerb Deutschherrnufer Frankfurt/jurorylid/1991; exhibition La Cittadella Ascona/exposer/1959; exhibition print shop De Jong Hilversum/exposer/1968 Honors: Civil Hospital for Women Prize/1992; First Prize Protected Housing Woerden/1984-1985; Eurowoningen Prize/1990