Migrating To The Dutch Indies
1926 was a difficult time for the Aalbers brother during which they filed for bankruptcy and closed down their office. His brother migrated to the Dutch Indies—the Netherlands colony—while Albert remained to try his luck again by opening an office in Hengelo, in the east of the Netherlands. He married Anna Marie Philipina Lieuwen in 1928 and the couple migrated to the Dutch Indies. At the beginning of their stay, Albert Aalbers worked in a contractor's office owned by J. Bennink in Sukabumi, West Java.
In 1930 the Aalbers family moved to Bandung, a few kilometers east of Sukabumi. At that time, the Dutch East Indies government was planning to move the colonial capital from Batavia (present-day Jakarta) to Bandung. The plan was never realized although it transformed Bandung into a city of new European ambience, including its built environment. Several Dutch architects, including Thomas Karsten, Henri Maclaine-Pont, J Gerber and C.P.W. Schoemaker, were actively involved designing and renovating buildings throughout the city. Aalbers saw this as a good opportunity and he started to work as a freelance architect in the city. Later he and his friend, Rijk de Waal, opened a new firm, the Aalbers en De Waal.
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