Amsterdam, The Netherlands – On 17 April 2023 Rein Jansma, founder and partner of architectural studio ZJA, passed away. In Rein Jansma, ZJA has lost one of its founders, a source of inspiration, a warm and generous mentor to many young architects, and living proof that architectonic design has its origins in curiosity, play, mathematics, knowledge of materials and wonderment. Everyone remembers his smile. Rein died at home last week Monday, surrounded by his wife Maartje Nevejan and their three children Abel, Noa and Mas. He was sixty-three.   

Architectural studio ZJA

Rein Jansma and Moshé Zwarts set up Zwarts & Jansma Architects (ZJA) in 1990. Over the decades that followed, ZJA grew to become a successful architectural studio focusing on large and complex design commissions, especially for sport and infrastructure, such as stadiums, tunnels, stations and bridges. Examples include the Wilhelminaplein metro station in Rotterdam, the renovation of the De Kuip stadium in Rotterdam, the iconic lightrail station on the Beatrixlaan in The Hague, the inflatable surge barrier at Ramspol, the Diamond Exchange Capital C in Amsterdam and the greenhouse of Amsterdam’s Hortus Botanicus. Under the leadership of Rob Torsing, Reinald Top, Ralph Kieft, Erik Smits and Kay Oosterman, ZJA will continue to work on wonderful projects in the enthusiastic and inspiring spirit of its founders.