De Jong, Van Olphen & Bax (JOB) The architectural firm of De Jong, Van Olphen & Bax (JOB) was founded in Maarssen in 1970 in response to the 'New Town of Maarssenbroek' competition. The trio had known each other for some time through their shared interest in the ideas of architect John Habraken (1928). In 1961 he published the book The Bearers and the People. In it, he makes a case for a new housing concept that offers the individual the opportunity to create his own living domain in a mass-produced home. Habraken initiates the Stichting Architecten Research, the SAR, and Fokke Maurits de Jong (1935), Herman van Olphen (1938) and Mattheus Franciscus Theodorus (Thijs) Bax (1935) join this foundation in 1965. The three young architects apply the SAR method in their competition design for the new town of Maarssenbroek, which they present in July 1968. By winning this competition in 1970, the trio put the SAR method on the map. Since 1970, De Jong, Van Olphen & Bax have been involved in large-scale projects in the fields of urban planning, housing and utility construction, in which they apply the SAR concept. Examples of their urban planning and housing projects can be found in the Merenwijk in Leiden (1972), the Zuidwijken, Het Stokebrand and de Waarden in Zutphen (1972), Bloemendaal-Oost in Gouda (1972) and Sterrenburg III in Dordrecht (19741978). In non-residential construction, the firm realizes the large government office complex 'Mandemaat' in Assen (19761982) for the Rijksgebouwendienst and the conversion of rehabilitation center De Hoogstraat in Utrecht (1994). In 1975, Bax left the firm to succeed Habraken as professor at the Faculty of Architecture at the Eindhoven University of Technology. De Jong and Van Olphen continued the firm. In 1992, at a time when the major building sites are fully built out and it is mainly about infill, Van Olphen and de Jong decide to part ways. Van Olphen moves to Amsterdam and starts the firm H. van Olphen Architecten Partners Amsterdam. De Jong also starts his own firm in Zeist, which is taken over by his son Arjen de Jong in 2003 under the name De Jong Architecten. Note: the oeuvre of De Jong, Van Olphen & Bax has not been (fully) inventoried.