Sybold van Ravesteyn practised at a period when the terms of architecture itself were under argument.
The record lists Sybold van Ravesteyn as Dutch architect (1889–1983).
Sybold van Ravesteyn was born at Rotterdam in 1889. His recorded nationality is Kingdom of the Netherlands. He trained at Delft University of Technology.
Modernism rejected ornament and historical style, arguing that a building should express its structure and its function - a claim contested ever since.
He is recorded as architect, photographer and interior designer.
Among his best-known works are Rotterdam Bergweg railway station, Rotterdam Centraal railway station and Diergaarde Blijdorp. Buildings outlast their architects and usually their purposes, which is what makes the discipline unforgiving.
That the work was built in Kingdom of the Netherlands shaped it: climate, materials, planning law and who holds the budget all decide what can actually be built.
Sybold van Ravesteyn died in 1983, aged 94. The buildings remain, still in use by people who never knew the name - which is the particular afterlife architecture offers.
Achievements
- Notable work: Rotterdam Bergweg railway station
- Notable work: Rotterdam Centraal railway station
- Notable work: Diergaarde Blijdorp
- Trained at Delft University of Technology
