For both Jo Kruger (1914–1983) and Rob Hootsmans (1962) the architecture of the Courthouse in Zwolle, the Netherlands, was a long time in the making. Kruger began in 1963 with his project for a combined district and subdistrict court, which took fourteen years to be completed. In 2004, while still working for the Government Building Agency, Hootsmans began exploring how Kruger’s building could be expanded. He finished a new extension in 2013, and completed the renovation of Kruger’s original building in 2016. Even if the architecture of Jo Kruger is very different from that of Rob Hootsmans, it is somehow a meeting of kindred spirits.
