Why pi-r?

This question has been asked to me many times.

In the eighties, when I studied architecture at the Academie van Bouwkunst in Amsterdam I worked at the architectural firm called Loerakker Rijnboutt Ruijssenaars. We used to sign each drawing by using our initials, so that the drawing would be “tracable”. In the archives of this office one can still find drawings marked by pvb, which stands for Pierre van Bolderen.

My collegue named Adrie Laan started to sign his drawings by A3. The number 3 is written in dutch as “drie”. So,I replied by using Pi-r; my name Pierre is pronounced in dutch as pi-r. In this way the meaning of stone (pierre in French) is linked with the (very ancient mathetical) length of a half a circle. Instead of writing pi I rather use the ancient greek symbol of pi. It has become the essence of my personal logo.

Pierre van Bolderen