Maurice Nio (1959)

Maurice Nio studied at the Faculty of Architecture at the Technical University of Delft, where he obtained his degree in 1988. He cofounded NOX Architects with Lars Spuybroek. In 2000, he created his own agency, NIO Architects. He is a lecturer with an international reputation, and has taught at many schools of art and architecture. He was also editor of the magazine Mediamatic. He has also made many videos and published writings in many magazines; his articles deal as much with video, television, photography and dance as with architecture and film. His book You Have the Right to Remain Silent, a collection of essays, was published in 1998 and his new book Unseen I slipped away will be published in 2004. His highly diversified architectural activity was rewarded in 2003 when he won the ar+d Award, a prize for young architects, for the Hoofddorp bus station, in the Netherlands, the world’s largest structure made with synthetic materials. At once signal and shelter, and junction and rallying point for local buses, this spectacular curved form spreads and stretches to accommodate and provide access to buses. Its elongated outward form calls to mind a giant stemming from Arp and Moore sculptures. Its multiple sections were factorybuilt in polystyrene foam and assembled and attached together on site, then covered with a polyester skin.