Bureau De Jong Van Olphen Bax The architectural firm of De Jong, Van Olphen and 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, which offers the individual the opportunity to create his own living domain (the built-in) in a prefabricated shell (the carrier). Habraken initiates the Architects Research Foundation, the SAR (1965), and Fokke de Jong (1935), Hans van Olphen (1938) and 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, marking the beginning of their own firm. By winning this competition in 1970, the trio put the SAR method on the map. Just a few years later, the firm worked with the first Calcon computers to calculate variants within the SAR methodology and load-bearing structures. Since 1970, De Jong, Van Olphen and Bax have been involved in large-scale projects in the fields of urban development, housing and utility construction, in which they apply the SAR concept. Van OIphen in particular is inspired by the Team X ideology. Their urban planning examples and housing projects can be found in the Merenwijk in Leiden (1972-1975), the Zuidwijken, Het Stokebrand and de Waarden in Zutphen (1972-1975), Bloemendaal-Oost in Gouda (1971-1974), Sterrenburg III in Dordrecht (1974-1978) and Zielhorst in Amersfoort (1981-1989). In the 1970s, the firm achieves about 1% of the national housing production (altogether about 16,000 houses). In non-residential construction, the office realized the large government office complex 'Mandemaat' in the zoning plan 'Schepersmaat' in Assen (1976-1982) for the Rijksgebouwendienst (under Chief Government Architect Quist) and the conversion of rehabilitation center De Hoogstraat in Utrecht (1994), and further pavilions in Dennendal, Den Dolder for the Willem Arntz Foundation (1977-1985), office buildings for the Labor Council in Amersfoort (1982-1985), testing stations for the PAGV and the PTOG (agriculture) in Lelystad and Naaldwijk (1980s) and an extension for the International Agricultural Center (IAC) in Wageningen (1990-1993). 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.