Frans Johan Louwrens Ghijsels

Renowned architect and urban planner in the Netherlands and Indonesia

Frans Ghijssels graduated as an engineer from Delft Unibversity of Technology in 1909. He soon returned to the country of his youth: present-day Indonesia, known to him as the Dutch East Indies. In Batavia he was able to work as a building inspector and subsequently as an architect. In 1916, Ghijsels founded the Algemeen Ingenieurs- en Architectenbureau (AIA) in Batavia, the largest architectural firm in the Dutch East Indies.

With his firm of architects, he realised a variety of buildings, including schools, offices, houses and churches. In his designs, Ghijsels often used austere columns incorporated in the walls of monumental white buildings. In a few of his buildings, the Art Deco style is strongly present, but at the same time, much of his work and choice of materials reflect his familiarity with the climate and culture of Indonesia and a preference for simplicity. Although a few buildings have been demolished, the majority are still standing. His best-known works in Jakarta are the Jakarta Kota Station, the shipping building of the Royal Dutch Paketvaart-Maatschappij and the office of the Dutch trade association Rotterdam- Internatio in Surabaya. For the municipality of Bandung, Ghijsels designed the first urban sketch for the district that had been earmarked as the future government centre.

At the end of the 1920s, Ghijsels travelled to the Netherlands for good. However, his work continued to spread to Indonesia through projects for the AIA, which continued until 1935. He died in 1947 at the age of 64. His grandson Watse Heringa followed in his footsteps as an architect.