Paul de Ruiter

Paul de Ruiter graduated from the Delft University of Technology in 1990, and started his doctoral dissertation, “The Chameleon Skin”, at the same university in 1992. In the dissertation, Paul argued that buildings should produce rather than consume energy. In 1994, after working at some of the leading architectural firms in Canada, Australia and the Netherlands, he set up one of his own in Amsterdam.

Since then, Paul de Ruiter has risen to prominence as an architect, entrepreneur, innovator and inspirer renowned for producing sustainable, game-changing buildings. He is a regular contributor to national and international discussions around sustainability, CO2-neutral design and certification methods for environmental performance. He is an internationally sought-after speaker, writes for numerous industry publications and teaches at the Netherlands’ architecture academies. He is also an active member of various organisations committed to a sustainable world. Among these is the Dutch Green Building Council, which in April 2017 made Paul a member of its general board — the foundation is committed to making urban environments sustainable, and develops and issues the BREEAM-NL certificate of environmental performance. In addition, Paul is a member of the advisory committee of ARCAM (the Architecture Centre of Amsterdam) and in January 2018 became a member of the Port of Rotterdam Authority’s Q-team.

Sustainable design is embedded in Paul de Ruiter’s DNA. Even the facades of his buildings are designed to support sustainability, and respond to sunlight in a way that allows them to harvest and store the sun’s energy. Such considerations are part of what give his buildings their distinctive signature and innovative credentials. He is a true believer in the idea of practising what you preach, and as a result designs most of his climate-responsive facades himself. Moreover, De Ruiter not only believes that buildings should generate energy in a technical sense, but also in the human sense of promoting happiness and providing inspiration, among other benefits. It is the combination of these considerations that ultimately result in the intelligent, sustainable buildings that bear his name.