‘Han Thijssen was educated at the Rijks Hogere School Voor Tuin- en Landschapsinrichting (R.H.S.T.L.) [national college for professional education for gardening and landscape development] in Boskoop, and at the Academy of Architecture in Amsterdam. He began his career as a designer at DLA+ and from 1989 he worked as a consultant/project manager at Buijs en Van der Vliet landscape architecture and town planning. In 1998, starting out from this last agency, he joined up with Frank Meijer and Ruud Dubbeld to continue further as MTD landschapsarchitecten.
Han is a realist; he combines and organises, so that special design projects become feasible. His forte lies in specific aesthetics and constructive values of materials, and the substantiation and accountability of building costs.
At the moment Han is especially involved in the initiatory phase of projects and he is responsible for the commercial leadership and management of MTD landschapsarchitecten. His main focus lies in the participation of design & construct / DBFMO projects, the collaboration with other disciplines, and innovation in the field of tendering, contracting, implementation and management.
He has acquired special skills and expertise in projects such as the redevelopment of the grounds at the premises of Akzo-Nobel in Arnhem, the redevelopment of various core shopping areas and numerous infrastructural projects and designs for noise-reducing facilities on commission for Rijkswaterstaat (Public Works Department and Water Management). Aside from this, it's relevant to mention his involvement in a number of projects in the education and healthcare sectors, including the campus at the University of Tilburg, the University of Technology Eindhoven and Thales in Hengelo, the Jeroen Bosch Hospital in ’s-Hertogenbosch and the Scholingsboulevard in Enschede.
Han has extensive executive management experience.’