Today Dom Hans van der Laan (1904-91) is something of a cult figure of European post-World War
II architecture. The Dutch Benedictine monk and architect dedicated his life to the search for
fundamental principles of architecture and his thoughts on numerical relationships and
dimensional systems were highly influential in mid-twentieth-century architectural theory.
A House to Live With is the first book to comprehensively explore the residential buildings
designed by Van der Laan and some of his students in the Ecclesiastical Architecture course in
in s-Hertogenbosch which he directed between 1946 and 1973. 16 of them built between 1966 and
1985 are featured in full detail through photographs and plans newly produced for this book
and analyzed with regard to their compositional and design principles. Essays examine the
mathematical relationships of numbers and volumes that are fundamental to van der Laan's
designs alongside discussion of how he was influenced by ancient Roman architecture. Light is
shed also on the interplay of house and garden and house and patio and the positioning of the
one large table in the house which to van der Laan was of key significance. Thoroughly
researched and highly readable this volume introduces Hans van der Laan's architectural ideas
and housing designs in full thus forming a rich and useful source for contemporary architects.
