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Ineke Teijmant

Autor von De Verfdoos

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This is the third in the series of books about Amsterdam's post-war Western suburbs by Ms. Teijmant that I have read. It is also the least interesting. Whereas other books concentrate on Dutch modernists' ideas about city and neighbourhood planning or about Bauhaus inspired interior design, this book mainly interviews a relatively small group of inhabitants shortly before these blocks were demolished. Everybody was quite fond of their small, old houses and the relationship with neighbours was all hunky dory. These conclusions are not supported with any further (statistical) evidence.… (mehr)
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mercure | Jun 26, 2013 |
Looking back at Modernist Amsterdam

After it was finished in 1962, the Amsterdam suburb of Geuzenveld had 4433 houses, about 100,000 trees, 40 playgrounds and one (Chinese-Indonesian) restaurant. All modern ideas Dutch urban planners had about creating neighbourhoods were applied here and the six architects chosen to each develop an area of the plan were the crème de la crème of the nation. Three of these architects were acclaimed modernists. The three others, among them Dudok, were somewhat more traditional.

Although the houses were built by building societies, civil servants dominated the requirements and restrictions. The city required houses urgently and the architects got six months for developing and finalising their design. The result somewhat disappointed urban planner Van Eesteren, who complained there was not enough unity in the result. He concluded his requirements to the architects had not been detailed enough.

In line with the Modern Movement, the floor plan of the houses and flats was the product of rational analysis to produce a maximum of use for the 12 functions in a family (sleeping, cooking, playing, etc.) on a minimal scale with a minimal use of materials and independent of "personal preferences". Given the urgency for new houses and the sober post-war budgets, the minimal requirement also became the government's maximal requirement. The government set requirements for every detail of a house.

The construction was also done in a rational and methodical way to reduce building costs. The quality of the construction methods was not yet high and resulted in noisy buildings.

The design of the neighbourhood follows the ideas of the Congrès International d'Architecture Moderne (strangely, the book does not mention that Van Eesteren presided over the conference of 1933). The architects wanted to create "on organic unity" for life (but not work; work was expected to be within 30 minutes cycling time, mainly in the harbour). This required schools, churches, shops, sports facilities and lots of greenery. All "amenities" were based upon demographic and social-scientific research and calculated with mathematical precision. The primary school defined the size of an area: each 800 households needed one. Hence Geuzenveld consists of 6 areas, each constructed by a separate building society. Given low levels of religiosity, there were only two churches and various community centres. Playgrounds were built for every 100 households and green spaces were always available at a maximum distance of 400 metres. The architects were keen on developing a community spirit and planned various facilities for people to meet, but these never became very popular: a garage for your car was planned in another housing block.

Quite a few of the older buildings have been demolished or are planned to be demolished. The original houses and flats were all rented, it is now planned that 55% will be owned by the inhabitants. According to the author, the 111 nationalities now living in Geuzenveld mostly endorse the values of the modernist plan.

Although produced together with the local council and despite the fact that the chapter on the Beggars (eponyms of the suburb) leaves a few things to be desired, this is another fine history of the paternalistic post-war reconstrucion of the Netherlands. The book disappoints in its coverage of the area now (did the counsel sponsor the book?). The old and new photographs are very good, though.
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mercure | Jan 30, 2012 |
Twentieth century optimism frozen in concrete

Deep in the interior of Amsterdam's Western suburbs stands De Verfdoos (the Paint Box), a set of two apartment buildings inspired by Le Corbusier's l'Unité d'Habitation in Marseille.

De Verfdoos was developed for the city's social-democratic building society AWV as part of the massive Algemene Uitbreidingsplan that is in itself a monument to twentieth century Modernism. The plan was made before the Second World War, but executed in the sober post-war years. With little money and a quickly rising population, the plan was toned down and speeded up. The houses became smaller, more sober, and cheaper than originally planned. The Strokenbouw (flats in the form of horizontal ribbons, like German Zeilenbau) of the pre-War period was already somewhat disgraced and therefore the plan is rich in courtyards and buildings at angles. In the post-war garden cities the ideal of "Light, Air and Space" was combined with shielded playgrounds.

De Verfdoos was designed by the flamboyant but little known architect and winner of the Fastnet Race Allert Warners, who tried to break the monotony of the new suburbs with this building. Warners broke many regulations (e.g. by increasing the size of windows he could make rooms deeper). Still, the buildings lack Le Corbusier's roof garden and there is no street through the building: the ground floor is used for shops. De Verfdoos has only 96 flats in three varieties, where l'Unite d'Habitation has 337 in 23 varieties. The similarity with l'Unité d'Habitation is in the building's form and use of colour. "The Belgian Mondriaan" Joseph Ongenae advised about the use of colour on the building's exterior.

10,000 visitors from as far away as India, Japan, Egypt and Scotland came to see the show house designed by the Stichting Goed Wonen ("Foundation Good Living"). Goed Wonen believed that a "responsible interior" would lead to a better lifestyle, a better human being, and a better society. A good house required light and simple, functional furniture. Made by machines, everybody could afford such furniture, unlike the pre-war tub chairs, carpets and draperies. Taste was a matter of education.

Home activities were intensely studied. The life of housewives was to be made easier through the use of machines and simple furniture would make cleaning easier. This way she could spend more time on her husband and particularly her children who should play a lot. The husband had no clear role at home. He should be left in peace with his newspaper.

Most of the Dutch visitors to the model houses were not enamoured by the interior designed by the Bauhaus graduate Coen de Vries. His interiors were considered cold and ongezellig (i.e. not cosy).

De Verfdoos has been restored in the last decade. Lifts have been added and some flats have been reserved for the elderly. Other houses were expanded for the use by "immigrant families". The population of the garden cities has gone through great changes and that have also affected De Verfdoos. Immigrants now make up a large part of the people living in the building. Smoking and urinating in the lifts are new problems. It is however also an immigrant inhabitant who defends the quality of living in the building.

Filled with black-and-white photographs of Jan Versnel (the house photographer of Goed Wonen) and with a copy of Goed Wonen's magazine about De Verfdoos of 1956, this is a delightful book about le temps perdu.
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mercure | Jan 24, 2012 |

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