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132
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Rijksakademie,
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Rijksakademie,
elevation
ganisational solutionwithveryplain elevations, hinting only at some compositional featureat the main
entrance. The plan arranges itself symmetricallyon
the entrance axis to provide, across the frontof the
building,a range of formalspaces forassembly and
exhibitionsas well as some administrativeoffices.
On the centreaxis a sculpturehall withtwo flanking
courts formthe link with the studios, on two main
levels across the rear of the building. The young
architects decided to establish a practice and used
the prize money to buy three houses in Zandvoort,
at that time a quiet North Sea resort. During the
following four years they continued to develop the
design and produced models and perspectives. It
is difficultto identifythe originalcompetitiondrawings from those subsequently completed and published. However, the main inspiration seems to
have been fromWright,particularlyin the interior
sketches, but withan overwhelmingcubic simplicity
133
left
Rijksakademie, sculpture
court
far left
Rijksakademie, large
assembly hall
134
right
Johvan Oldenbaarneveldlaan,view
right
Johvan Oldenvaarneveldelaan,plan
right
OldenbaarneveldeJohvan
laan,elevation
135
7;
plans'
I~~
mseplin
bc
HW
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LIVING6F->Rr
CMNE
B~r13
? -
far left
Tomsenplein, housing and
-- Thmseplinho-allan
~-IQop
Kijkuin
left
housing, site
type A
type B
type C
type D
type E
type F
type
136
right
Kijkduinhousing,
perspective
right
housing,general
view
K.ikduin
tween. A sparing use of 45* planning in the entrance hall and livingroom,and the extension of the
livingroom out under the roofas a loggia, and then
furtheras an open terrace, hintat some knowledge
of Wright'shouses.
It is the biggest housing type that is most
strikingfor the low-pitchover-sailinghipped roofs,
which bringto mind the Robie and Willitts houses
of Wright.It is well known that the Wasmuth volumes had made a strong impact in Europe and it is
perhaps the revelation of Wright's houses, rather
than Berlage's own interest in the Larkinbuilding,
which had an effecton the youngerarchitects.When
Robert van't Hoff built the two houses at Huis ter
Heide in 1916 therewas a solid example of Wright's
style to be seen in Holland. The symmetricalaxial
plan(') of the larger house, with its heavy external
stringcourses and flat projecting roof planes, does
not however seem to have influenced Kijkduin. It
137
left
Kijkduinhousing
'
138
are compromised by a consciously cherished conception of beauty." Wiebenga himselfhad hsed this
same quotation in part of his report of 1922 on
technical education in Groningen,and Bijvoet and
Duiker propose that the value of such an approach
139
left
Scheveningen school view
140
right
Groningenschool
Wiebenga here suggested the use of Swiss techniques of soil refrigerationto drill shafts through
difficultstratawhere therewere undergroundrivers.
At the end of the war he was nominated by Dr. H. P.
Berlage for the lectureship at the Arts Academy in
The Hague, where he had to give only seven lectures
a year. This allowed himto develop his own practice,
when he worked on the Rijksakademie project, until
1920 when he was invitedto accept a Government
post. For some time therehad been dissension in the
province of Groningenover the subject of technical
education and Wiebenga was asked to take over the
reorganisationand to reportto the Government.In
this reporthe proposed a new technical school and,
once Governmentapproval was obtained, he set
about designing it himself. His official post did not
allow him to take part in such work and it was for
this reason that he invited L. C. van der Vlugt to be
associated with the work and to sign the drawings.
The school was completed in 1923 and veryshortly
afterthis he emigratedto the United States with his
wife, where he made the most of his energies in
gaining wide experience in large civil engineering
and constructionprojects.
Wiebenga as an exponent of functionalism
puts him at the 'Rotterdam' end of the scale in the
continuing polarisation of attitudes with 'Amsterdam'. This is recorded(") by Erich Mendelsohn after
attending a lecture by Oud in Holland. He wrote,
"Oud is, to use Gropius' words, functional,while
Amsterdam is dynamic. A unison between the two
is conceivable, but not recognised in Holland. The
analytical Rotterdambrain denies vision, the visionary Amsterdam brain does not comprehend cool
Zakelijkheid. Certainlythe primaryelement is function; but functionwithout sensibilityremains mere
construction.Bothare necessary; theymust findone
another. Otherwise Rotterdamwill construct itself
141
left
Aalsmeer house
far left
Aalsmeer house plan
142
right
Diemerbrug
Laundry
143
144
League of Nations
competition
project,
schematic plan
Hoogbouw
housing project
O~O
Zonnestraal,
block
classroom
Zonnestraal,
workshop plan
right
Zonnestraal, aerial view
145
left
Zonnestraal ward building
drawings
far
left
Zonnestraal
left
Zonnestraal
buildn
site plan
cnrd
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gru
d lorpa
left
groin
lorpa
right
Zonnestraal central building
drawings
right
Zonnestraal
south view
central building,
right
Zonnestraal central building,
west view
farleft
Zonnestraal
centralbuilding,
entranceto diningroom
Zonnestraal
central
building
left
terraceof
Zonnestraal,
centraldiningroom
Spangen housing
development
seen and learnt.Is it reading too much into the situation to comment on Lissitsky's visit to Holland in
the('") summer of 1926, just before the project beof Lissitskyas
gan? KennethFramptonhas written(i9)
being instrumentalin spreading the international
ConstructivistmovementthroughEurope. The Russian exhibition of 1922 transferredto Amsterdam
after Berlin,throughvan Doesburg's organizing. He
introducedEl Lissitskyto manyarchitects including,
Oud, van Eesteren, and Mart Stam while giving lectures in various towns. In 1923 and '24 he went to
Switzerland to convalesce froman attack of TB and
Stam was also there, workingwith his friendHans
Schmidt, who with Emil Roth established the magazine ABC. They received considerable encouragement in this from Lissitsky,who was by no means
isolated from events outside Switzerland, as his
lettersshow. Stam returnedto Holland in 1925 and
in the summerof the followingyear Lissitskyvisited
him at his house in Rotterdam.It was an opportunity
to see the new workin Rotterdamand to make a visit
to the Schroder house and to meet Rietveld. Is it
possible that he met an architectwho was shortlyto
be engaged on a design for a TB sanatorium,about
which he would have some opinions? Dare I throw
one more herringin the air, the description by Lissitskyof his firstbuildingprojectforsome years, in a
fromMoscow 1925. "A design for a Yachtletter(2O)
club, I have really slaved at it. I have worked myself
stupid. But it's not the problem itself,not the technical aspect of solving?it, that has had me racking
my brains, it's the artisticaspect! It is interestingto
follow the plans now, in orderto see that the whole
difficultylies in becoming simpler. I don't think I
can set itout in a moreelementaryway thanthis. The
complex is situated on the slope of a riverbank; the
three big red horizontal lines - these are terraces;
the zig-zag flash on the diagonal is a winding road
149
left
Van Nellefactory
150
riaht
Nirwanaplans,typical
floors
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constructionaldetail has occasionally been too optimistic. The rustingof the windows at Zonnestraal
has been referredto, and Wiebenga recalls problems
encountered on the Nirwana flats, started in 1927.
This project originatedin a suggestion by Wiebenga
that therewould soon be a ready marketfor service
flats, such as he had experienced in America. He
produced a firstscheme with Duiker,which showed
a layout(21)of five buildings joined at the corners in
chequer board fashion. This was to give a high site
densitywith good lighting,and incorporateda continuous linkingexternal balcony which could act as
a fireescape route. Itwas proposed thatsome of the
large embassies in The Hague would take a complete
flooras a receptionsuite, and Wiebenga made some
tentativearrangementswithtenantsin this direction.
The standard service was to include a centralkitchen
where fullmeals could be ordered by tenants.These
could be served direct to the flats by hoist, of which
151
farleft
Hoogbouwhousingproject,
Amsterdam
left
Adamas
farleft
WiebengaSchool
152
right
Elbe Hotel project
163
left
planof typicalfloor,
Open-airSchool,Amsterdam
farleft
planof groundfloor,
Open-airSchool
finds its expression in the small windows and 'cottages' (sic) (a referenceto the schools withthatched
and heavily modelled roof forms). Childrenhave to
get ultra-violetlightfor health, it is an absolute essential, and so the whole thing is nonsense. This
individualistic idea of the conservatives is all nonsense, because fromthe veryfirstthingin the morning to going to bed at nightis all partof a collective
life. This must be realised and accepted, and the
resultwill be a returnof personal freedom. "Duiker
was plainlyconcerned that no amount of idealism in
the teaching could overcome the impressed characteristics of a building. His statementfollows very
closely the tone of Berlage's on expressionistarchitecture, mentioned earlier in connection with the
technical school at Groningen.
The firstphotographsof this building show
it indeed in an ideal new world. It stands alone,
ready to receive the expansion of AmsterdamSouth,
while the buildingenvelope has been dematerialised
to a pointwhere it seems thateverythingtakes place
in the open air. To achieve this the buildingstructure
of columns, beams and floors, is completed by a
mirrortightenvelope of glass, standing in the same
plane as the concrete, givinga continuous dematerialised surface. The metal glazing sections were set
withthe deep leg of the T or Z section to the interior,
bringingthe glass to the outside face (as Stirlingand
Gowan later did with the glazed cages at Leicester,
and Cambridge). Each wall of glazing was also subdivided in equal intervals in the simplest way. (It
is regrettablethat this has been replaced by a much
heavier steel window section, reversedwiththe deep
legs outwards,and in a differentintervaland proportion. Architect: A Komter, a former assistant to
Duiker).
The open;air school was possible for Duiker
since he used a system of ceiling heatingto provide
154
right
site plan, Open-air School
farright
general view, Open-air
School
right
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ratherbe taken as 'spiritual economy in place of financial economy'. Such spiritualeconomy will lead
to economic constructionin the materialsused, and
will develop towards dematerialisation,spiritualisation."
Duiker: "But why do you make windows in such a
special way and arches of such a strongshape? Why
do you do thingsthatmust be materialised,when all
the time you are talkingof dematerialisation.?"
Berlage: "In your way, as shown in your work, inspiration,intuition,architecturalcapacity, have led
you to the furthesttechnical extreme and at that
point spiritualvalues are missing."
Duiker: "You are being unfair,foryou are suggesting
that art (architecture) begins only where science
ends. But the strongestprime impulse lives in us in
every cultural expression, in science and in every
naturalphenomenon.This inspirationis valuable for
it follows the laws of economy. Natureitselfdemon-
156
left
Cineactheaterinterior
left
Cineactheater
painted steel panels and glazing. Acoustics and heating were both carefully calculated and performed
well, in a plain auditorium shell. Cinemas of this
time are generally known for their exuberance in
exotic decoration or expressive lighting,resulting
fromtheir development from live theatre. The concept of a neutralspace where the atmosphere is generated by the filmmaterialitselfis still not accepted
by many of the big circuitowners to-day. That Cineac was and is overlooked is not surprisingin that
context.
In the end of 1934 it became clear that Duiker was seriously ill and that help would be needed
to complete the outstanding work. Wiebenga was
still a frequentvisitorduringhis illness and was also
associated with much structuralwork through his
firmin The Hague. Bijvoet agreed to returnto work
once more in partnership,although during his absence Duiker had continued to title many drawings
with both their names. Duiker's second wife exercised a great deal of influencein pretendingthat his
illness would soon pass and up to the time of his
death clients were not told of possible futuredifficulties. The Hotel Gooiland was in progressthenand
the Directors of the company were on the point of
commissioninga furtherproject in Leeuwardenwhen
Duiker died. On the day of the funerala macabre incident occurred when Mrs. Duiker had the coffin
removed to the back room while Bijvoet was sent to
talk to the visiting group of Directors, as though
nothinghad happened. Mrs. Duikerretainedher control over the practice so long as Bijvoet remained to
complete -the outstanding work. Then she handed
the practice on to Karstenand Merkelbach,and Bijvoet later returnedto France. He spent the war years
in the Dordogne, and in 1947 he returnedonce again
to join Professor Holt in partnershipin Harlem. He
has since completed a number of theatre projects,
158
.............
right
Hotel
Hilversum,
Gooiland,floorplans
1 restaurant
and cafe
2 theatrevestibule
3 theatre
4 theatreentrance
65foyer
6 hoteldiningroom
7 kitchen
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right
HotelGooiland,general
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159
left
HotelGooilandroofgarden
farleft
HotelGooiland,bridge
secondfloor
left
HotelGooiland,section
160
the privilegeto workwithhimwill treasurethe memory of the open, honest look that is the markof the
plain, wise man. Everythingabout him was 'human'
in the best sense of the word, and posturingwas foreign to him...
Bijvoet and Duiker's style can not be labeled, but at one time or another one can see features, which suggest an understandingof the ideas
of Wright,Berlage, Neoplasticism and Constructivism. Their achievement is in coming throughsuch a
varied smokescreen to a clear position of theirown,
not defined by major statement,but made accessible
throughtheirbuildings. Firstly,theyused the materials in most common and sophisticated use in Holland to build the early brick houses in The Hague.
They are notable forthe sound detailing,resolved by
carefularticulationof the workingelements,each appropriateto the materialemployed. This inheritance
Wright is seen even in the later work. One has
only to look at the effectof changes of roof line on
glazing junctions,to see the vocabulary still at work.
It is with Zonnestraal that the approach changes to
representan architecturein new materials,which,on
the one hand reveal themselves in the formsnecessaryto supporttheirfunctions,and on the otherhand
are suppressed by a unificationof the buildingstatement in terms of its colour.
With a backgroundof vast numbersof people housed in over crowded and under serviced
conditions, and others living out their lives in the
shadows of style derived fromothercultures,it is no
accident that identifiableproducts of the new architecturewere white and silver skeletons.
FOOTNOTES
1. ReynerBanham,Theoryand Design in the FirstMachine
Press, London(1960)
Age, Architectural
2. Wendingen,No. 12, 1921 (Amsterdam)
3. Wendingen,vol. 6, Nos. 4-5 (Amsterdam)
4. L'Architecture
Vivante,1926, No. 6, pls 24, 25, 27, 49, 50
Eds Morance,Paris
5. Recordsof Bouw en WoningToezicht,The Hague, letter
dated 4-11-19
6. Records,The Hague, dated, 24-12-19.,ditto.,17-10-20
7. Records,The Hague,dated 3-6-21
8. L'Architecture
Vivante,Autumn1925, pls 21, 22
9. BouwkundigWeekblad,1924, pp. 23-25
10. BouwkundigWeekblad,1924, pp. 77-79
11. ErichMendelsohn:lettersof an architect,Abelard-Schuman, London(1967)
12. Records,Aalsmeer,dated 28-10-24
13. L'Architecture
Vivante,1924, No. 3, pls 41, 42
14. This perioddescribedin "Maison de Verre",by Kenneth
Frampton,
Perspecta12 (1969)
15. Records,Hilversum,dated 18-11-26 Readersare referred
also to Forum,No. 1, 1962 (Hilversum),in which Irs
E. J. Jellesand C. Albertspresentedthe firsthalfof their
researchintoBijvoetand Duiker'swork.This partwas an
illustratedrecordof Zonnestraal,forwhich therewas a
threatof destruction,and a referenceindex of much of
oftheeditorsto publishthe
theirotherwork.The intention
second documentwas nevercarriedout, and the firstis
now out of print.While acknowledgingthe assistance
gained fromthe firstarticle,I offerthis presentworkto
othersinterestedinthissubject.
Since Jellesand Albertsholdmuchotherwiseunobtainable
materialitis important
thattheirmorecomprehensive
work
is published,or releasedforotherresearchers.
16. BouwkundigWeekblad,1928, 21 July,pp. 225-231
17. ForumNo. 1, 1962
18. Sophie Lissitsky-Kuppers,
El Lissitsky,
Thames & Hudson,
London(1968)
19. KennethFrampton,
"The workof El Lissitsky",ArchitecturalDesign, November1966
El Lissitsky,p. 65-66
20. Sophie Lissitsky-Kuppers,
21. BouwkundigWeekblad,1927, pp. 306-310 and 325-327
22. Records,The Hague,completeset dwgs dated 15-2-28
23. J. Duiker,Hoogbouw,Brusse, Rotterdam(1930)
24. Records,Amsterdam,
dated 6-8-28.
25. '8 en Opbouw',1932, p. 238
26. the projectwas submittedto Bouw en WoningToezicht,
Amsterdamdated 29-5-31., but nothingmorewas heard
fromDuikeruntil27-2-34,whenhe resignedthe commission. MeanwhileJan Wils submitteddrawings31-10-33
and this schemewas carriedout in substantially
theform
proposedby Duiker.
27. Forum,No. 1, 1962
28. '8 en Opbouw',2 March1935
29. Records,Amsterdam,
dated 4-10-33
30. Records,Hilversum,
dated and stamped1935
31. BBC radio talk, "The anti-Pioneers", 1967