Hendricus Theodorus Wijdeveld(1885-1987), who lived to be 102, was architect, set-designer, graphic designer and publisher. He was one of the most visionary thinkers and creators in the history of Dutch Architecture; a utopianist who saw the world as his theater where he could design his dreams. He has often been compared to visionaries like Frank Lloyd Wright and Le Corbusier. He designed a 20-kilometre deep shaft to the centre of the Earth, devised a plan for the reforestation of the Netherlands and proposed a new neighbourhood around a people's theater in the Vondelpark in Amsterdam. Although his utopian world was never realized he had an enormous influence on the thinking of his day. Besides a small number of land-houses and urban living complexes his most visual legacy is Wendingen, the influential architecture magazine that he founded, designed and published between 1918 and 1931.
This Dutch publication coincides with a retrospective exhibition at the Netherlands Architecture Institute in Rotterdam entitled "Ontwerp het Onmogelijke"(Plan the Impossible)from January 28 to May 21 2006.