Willem van Tijen was born on February 1, 1894 in Wormerveer. From 1907 to 1914, he attended HBS and the Hilversum gymnasium. After graduating from high school, he moved to Amsterdam, where he would study law. After some travels in Russia, Sumatra, and the United States, he and his wife went to Bandoeng in 1920, where he studied irrigation engineering at the Special Technical School until 1924.
Due to illness, Van Tijen and his wife returned to the Netherlands in 1926. Together with A. Plate he founded NV. Volkswoningbouw Rotterdam, a public housing company for which he designed several projects together with L.C. van der Vlugt. In 1929, Van Tijen partnered with Rotterdam structural engineer J.H. van den Broek and subsequently opened his own office.
From 1937 to 1954, Van Tijen was associated with HA Maaskant. Several "well-known" architects worked in the office, such as L.A. Hoogstraaten (until 1946), E.F. Groosman (until 1948), W. Buma (around 1950) and W. Wissing (1947-1955). In 1955, Van Tijen, together with M. Boom and J. Posno, formed the Van Tijen, Boom & Posno working group, which grew to become the Van Tijen, Boom, Posno & Van Randen architecture studio at the end of the 1960s.
Over the years, in addition to the people mentioned above, Van Tijen frequently collaborated with other architects, such as J.A. Brinkman, S.J. van Embden, C.J.F. Karsten, F. Klein, D. Melchior, B. Merkelbach, G.T. Rietveld, R. Romke de Vries, M.A. Stam, C.I.A. Stam-Beese and M.B. van Wensveen.
Due to illness, Van Tijen and his wife returned to the Netherlands in 1926. Together with A. Plate he founded NV. Volkswoningbouw Rotterdam, a public housing company for which he designed several projects together with L.C. van der Vlugt. In 1929, Van Tijen partnered with Rotterdam structural engineer J.H. van den Broek and subsequently opened his own office.
From 1937 to 1954, Van Tijen was associated with HA Maaskant. Several "well-known" architects worked in the office, such as L.A. Hoogstraaten (until 1946), E.F. Groosman (until 1948), W. Buma (around 1950) and W. Wissing (1947-1955). In 1955, Van Tijen, together with M. Boom and J. Posno, formed the Van Tijen, Boom & Posno working group, which grew to become the Van Tijen, Boom, Posno & Van Randen architecture studio at the end of the 1960s.
Over the years, in addition to the people mentioned above, Van Tijen frequently collaborated with other architects, such as J.A. Brinkman, S.J. van Embden, C.J.F. Karsten, F. Klein, D. Melchior, B. Merkelbach, G.T. Rietveld, R. Romke de Vries, M.A. Stam, C.I.A. Stam-Beese and M.B. van Wensveen.
