Luzia Hartsuyker-Curjel

Luzia Hartsuyker-Curjel (15 February 1926 – 17 April 2011) was a Dutch architect of German origin. She is remembered for her innovative designs and for her collaboration with the Italian-born Dutch architect Enrico Hartsuyker. Considerable attention was paid to their Biopolis project, a satellite city planned for The Hague but never realized.

Early life and education

Hartsuyker-Curjel was born in 1926 in Karlsruhe, Germany. Her father, Hans Curjel, the son of the architect Robert Curjel, was an art historian and pianist. Her mother, Gabriella Fahrner had also studied music and played the cello. As her parents were Jewish, the family moved to Switzerland when she was six years old. She studied architecture at the ETH Zurich where she met the Dutch Italian architecture student and future husband Enrico Hartsuyker. They were encouraged in their studies by Siegfried Giedion, a close friend of her father, Hans Curjel. Their social housing designs included alternative layouts with new spatial options, often with a central patio and slight differences in room levels. The kitchens and bathrooms were often centrally located.

Luzia Hartsuyker-Curjel died on 17 April 2011 in Laren.