Kees Christiaanse, born 1953 in Amsterdam, studied architecture and urban planning at TU Delft. In 1980 he joined the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) and was appointed partner in 1983. In 1989 he founded his own company, now KCAP Architects&Planners, in Rotterdam.
Throughout his career Kees Christiaanse has always combined teaching and research with his professional work within KCAP, which has generated fruitful cross-fertilisations. From 1996 until 2003 he held a professorship for architecture and urban planning at the Technical University of Berlin, since 2003 he is head of the Chair for Architecture and Urban Design at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich. In 2009 Kees Christiaanse was curator of the 4th International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam (IABR) with the title "Open City. Designing Coexistence". Since 2010 he is program leader of the Future Cities Laboratory (FCL) in Singapore. Kees Christiaanse is an experienced lecturer and author of a multitude of books and essays about architecture and urban planning.
Next to his work as an architect, Kees focuses on urban assignments in complex situations and on guiding of urban processes. He is an expert in de development of university campuses and in the revitalization of former industrial, railway and harbour areas, which is illustrated by KCAP's work in the docklands of Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Hamburg and London.
Kees Christiaanse is supervisor for the development of Eindhoven Airport and was from 2008-2013 supervisor for the architectural and urban development of Schiphol Airport. He is currently supervisor of several international urban developments such as Hafencity Hamburg, Perm Strategic Masterplan (RU), Science City Zurich, Science Park Amsterdam, Laurenskwartier Rotterdam, Europaallee Zurich and city centre Eindhoven. He is honorary member of the German Architects' Association (BDA), member of the Van der Leeuwkring Rotterdam and of various urban Advisory Boards in Zurich, Dublin, London, Hamburg, Geneva and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. In early 2013 he was appointed Chairperson of the External Advisory Board of the Architecture and Design Department of the Singapore University of Technology and Design.