The Rotterdam Academy of Architecture and Urban Design (RAvB) trains its students to become architects and urban planners who are both professional and socially responsible. The RAvB offers four-year Master’s degree programmes in architecture and urban design based on a unique educational model that combines study and practical experience. It is not a ‘school’ that pushes its students in a particular direction, but rather a haven where they can experiment and are challenged to define their own position in the design profession.

The Academy was founded in 1965 by a group of prominent Rotterdam architects, including Huig Maaskant and Jan Hoogstad. The Academy’s founding philosophy – the idea that in the training of architects and urban designers no boundary can be drawn between the role of the designing and constructing “do-er” and the reflective and critical “thinker” – still holds to this day. The Academy is situated in the historic headquarters of the RDM shipyard in Rotterdam-Heijplaat. It currently has around 250 students.