Born and raised in Turnhout, Jozef (Jef) Schellekens (1909 – 1963) apprenticed as a draftsman under the then provincial architect, Jules Taeymans, who allowed him to simultaneously study architecture at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp (1931). He was a fellow student of Victor Blommaert, Renaat Braem and Leon Stynen among others, and graduated in the summer of 1933 at the top of his class, winning the De Coster Prize, which was only awarded to exceptionally gifted students.