Jacobus Johannes Pieter Oud was born in Purmerend, Holland in 1890. Educated at the Arts and Crafts School in Amsterdam and at the Technical University in Delft, he worked for Theodor Fischer in Munich before settling in Leiden.
An original members of De Stijl , Oud eventually left the group due to philosophical disagreements. In 1918 he became Municipal Housing Architect for Rotterdam. In 1933 he established his own practice.
As a young socialist, Oud stimulated an international and regional trend toward functionalism. He wrote magazine articles, acted as a correspondent for Soviet architectural journals, and contributed a book on Dutch architecture to the Bauhausbucher series.
Oud's best known works are for housing schemes in expanding areas. During and after World War II he became involved in larger commercial projects, but these never achieved the clarity of his early housing.
Considered a pioneer of Dutch Functionalist architecture, Oud died in Wassenaar, Holland in 1963.