born March 22, 1902, Rotterdam, Neth. died May 6, 1949, Rotterdam Dutch architect. After graduating from the Delft Technical University, he helped design the van Nelle tobacco factory (1928-30) in Rotterdam, one of the most architecturally important industrial buildings of the 1920s. An outstanding example of Modernist architecture, its unbroken expanses of glass convey a strong feeling of lightness and transparency