The practice was founded in 1994 by Rick Wessels and Hans van der Heijden. Initially, the practice worked mostly on housing schemes. The workload has gradually expanded to offices, shops, medical and cultural buildings.

In 1996 biq won the Europan-4 competition. In 2008, the Bluecoat arts centre in Liverpool (GB) was completed. This project received many awards and was nominated for the Mies van der Rohe Award.

Hans van der Heijden (* 1963)
Hans van der Heijden (The Hague, 1963) is one of the founders of biq. In 1988 he graduated at TU Delft. His graduation project, a large scale urban redevelopment scheme, combined his interest for housing and his experience at the governmental building service and Mecanoo. He established biq in 1994 and is biq's design director.

Hans writes about architecture and lectures and teaches. In 2008 he published the book „Architectuur in de kapotte stad“ (Architecture in the fractured city).

Publikationen

esearch Quarterly, volume 5 #2 2001

Hans van der Heijden, The Netherlands – Koolhaas and the Profession at Play, in: Paul Davies, Torsten Schmiedeknecht (ed.), An Architect’s Guide to Fame, Elsevier, Oxford/Burlington, 2005

Hans van der Heijden, De context van traditionalisme/ The context of traditionalism, Oase #76 2008

Rick Wessels, Woningrenovatie als architectonische opgave, N17, KEI kenniscentrum stedelijke vernieuwing, March 2010

Hans van der Heijden, Marten Kuijpers, Alternatieven voor zorg in de stad, sleutelen aan naoorlogs vastgoed, Lay-out #10, Stimuleringsfonds voor Architectuur Rotterdam 2010

Articles, reviews work biq

Tony Fretton, Een ander soort praktijk, het werk van biq in Ypenburg, Puttershoek en Liverpool, De Architect maart 2000

Harm Tilman, „In de kapotte stad kom je met ironie geen stap verder“, interview met Hans van der Heijden, directeur van biq stadsontwerp, De Architect april 2008

Ellis Woodman, Orange is the only Fruit, biq’s Lakerlopen housing, Eindhoven, the Netherlands, Building Design 30 april 2010

Ulrich Brinkmann, Vier Häuser und ein Fassadenthema, Bauwelt 34 2010

Paul Vermeulen, Kleine geschiedenis, lange duur, De Architect november 2010