Background
Teun Koolhaas was born in Singapore, where his father, Rem Koolhaas, worked as a shipbuilding engineer When Southeast Asia was occupied by Japan, Teun and his mother were imprisoned in Tjideng camp in Batavia.
Teun Koolhaas was born in Singapore, where his father, Rem Koolhaas, worked as a shipbuilding engineer When Southeast Asia was occupied by Japan, Teun and his mother were imprisoned in Tjideng camp in Batavia.
He then went on to study engineering at the Technical University of Delft, where he attended lectures by artists including Gerrit Rietveld and Cornelis van Eesteren.
After the end of the Japanese occupation of Indonesia, the family was reunited, and the they moved to Hong Kong. In 1955 Koolhaas returned to the Netherlands to complete his secondary education. After graduating in 1967 Koolhaas continued his studies at Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States.
At Harvard, he earned a degree in urban planning.
Teun Koolhaas is the father of actress Betje Koolhaas.