The Notebooks of Herman Hertzberger: Explorations, Considerations and Observations of an Engaged Architect 1998-2024

This five-volume slipcased series gathers Hertzberger's sketches, reflections and ideas into an incomparable source for every architecture aficionado

Dutch architect Herman Hertzberger (born 1932) never goes anywhere without one of his black, unlined notebooks close to hand. Each tiny detail is immortalized in a note, reflection or sketch. He plays with words and searches for the right forms while drawing, reflecting in words and pictures on anything that strikes him, including tragic events such as 9/11 and the Covid-19 pandemic. Apart from his many landscape drawings, readers will also recognize the initial ideas for some of his projects, including the YKK dormitory in Kurobe, Japan, and Tivoli Vredenburg in Utrecht. At over 1,200 pages total, this five-volume slipcased set reproduces Hertzberger's notebooks from 1998 to 2024. Alongside these facsimiles are essays by architectural historian Herman van Bergeijk, guiding the reader through Hertzberger's various ideas, concepts and forms.