Dirk Sijmons

Dirk Sijmons is a landscape architect. From 1977 till 1981 he worked at the nature conservation direction of the Dutch Ministry of Culture, Recreation and Social Work. From 1891 till 1984 he was head of the department of Strategic Policy Development and Research Coordination of the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature Conservation and Fishery after which he started working at the Staatsbosbeheer (Dutch State Forest Management) as head of the Landscape Architecture department. He was coordinator of the Landscape Architecture Chair of the Academy of Architecture in Amsterdam from 1990 till 1994. In 1990 he was one of three founders of H+N+S Landscape Architects where he currently still holds an advisory position.

In 2002 Dirk Sijmons received the Rotterdam-Maaskant Price for his work in the field of landscape architecture (and in 2018 he received the price again as one of the ‘makers’ of the Room for the River program). In 2004 he was appointed by the Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality as Government Advisor of the Landscape. In 2007 he received the Edgar Doncker Price for his contribution to the ‘true Dutch culture’. He was professor Environmental Design at the Technical University of Delft and curator of the 2014 IABR (International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam) themed ‘Urban by Nature’ and was involved in IABR Atelier 2050 – An Energetic Odyssey in 2016 focusing on the North Sea and energy transition.