Ben van Berkel(born in 1957)studied at the Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam and then at the Architectural Association inLondon, receiving his diploma in 1987. Before founding UNstudio in Amsterdam with Caroline Bos(1988), he worked for Santiago Calatrava in Zuarich. In 1994, he was a guest lecturer at Columbia University in New York. On a search for new spatial solutions that, on the one hand, went beyond the familiar repertoire based on fundamentalism, while on the other also had that sensual and artistic quality that is today often required for public buildings, the architects at UNstudio apply mathematical models that can be researched through computer-aided design. The development of its constructed works is to be read as a research project in the regions of the folded, wounded and devoured space. The Wilbrink residence in Amersfoort was realized between 1992 and 1994 and has a gently sloping roof that seems to grow up out of the ground. Top and bottom, inside and out, are mixed and redefined. The city was given a strong landmark in the Erasmus Bridge(1990-1996) that connect the new parts of the city - created by converting old harbour facilities - with the centre. The concept behind the "Mobius House" in Het Gooi, the Netherlands(1993-1998) is the Mobius Loop, in which the conventional uses of glass and concrete are exchanged and material contrasts achieved between solid concrete areas and ceiling-high, tinted windows. For the NMR laboratory building at the University of Utrecht, the Netherlands (1997-2000), the architects folded exposed concrete sections around the central laboratory area. Specific cut outs around "La Defense", the large office block in Almere, the Netherlands(1999-2004), create courtyards with facades that are coated with a coloured, shimmering film to create an incorporeal ivsion of the building. The highlight of the group's achievements to date is the new Mercedes Benz Museum in Stuttgart, Germany(2001-2006), whose winding spirals create a continuous route through the building whilst setting new boundaries int the design vocabulary of the constructed room.