Throughout his life, Gerrit Achterberg devoted himself to Dutch poetry, making a significant contribution of his own. Achterberg murdered his landlady in a fit of madness after she had rejected his offers of love. This was a turning point in his life, which he spent thereafter mostly among the books in the libraries of the psychiatric institutions to which he was confined. His only grip on reality was poetry and his personal vision on literature.

The Gerrit Achterberg Institute is sited at Boomstraat 20 in Utrecht, the place where Achterberg committed the murder. The building knocks a devastating hole in what was a street elevation of reason. Here you can spend an age among the books, shut away from the outside world. It is a place where madness, a state usually denounced and banned from society, can flourish. The building has two spaces laid one inside the other, their dimensions based on the Fibonacci series. The exterior space, shielded from the world outside by a concrete screen, is the discontinuous space of reason. In it are the cells and supporting functions. The internal space is the continuous space of the imagination, 'beyond' the borders of language. Descending through the underground entrance, you leave reason behind and seem to get closer to death. From this underworld you ascend to the room with the books. Mirrors cladding the walls give the impression of a continuous space with books stretching to infinity - a virtual perspective on the image of the book. A gallery with views of the outside world is a guarantee of your sanity on leaving, which is by way of a timber-floored plaza laid over fragments of the original building. Roses planted in recesses in the plaza are there as a symbol of love and death.

Place of education: Tilburg
Specialization: architectuur
Tutor: Wim Cuyvers