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FROM THE SHOWROOM

View all items from the Collection presented in the showroom so far. Click any of the pictures to start a slide show. You can navigate forwards and backwards from there.


F. Beyert. Recreation plan for Schouwen-Duivenland, 1963. NAI Collection / ABAM 788. This drawing is from the archive of the Amsterdam Academy of Architecture. It is a study project examining the possibilities for recreation on Schouwen-Duivenland and the construction of a water sports centre. The Academy’s archive documents the history of architectural education in the capital, from the first secondary and higher architectural education course, initiated in 1908 by architect W. Kromhout, to the 1990s
 F. Beyert. Recreation plan for Schouwen-Duivenland, 1963. NAI Collection / ABAM 788


Cover of ‘Goed Wonen’ (Good Living) magazine Volume. 3 (1950), 8. NAI Collection. The Stichting Goed Wonen (Good Living Foundation) was set up in 1946 to promote lifestyle and home decoration among large sections of the public. By providing information, publishing a magazine and decorating model houses, they took up the struggle against tastelessness, and housing and material shortages as well as against pompous furniture, old-fashioned Dutch oak and crammed interiors. In accordance with the functionalist principles of the ‘Nieuwe Bouwen’ (the Dutch branch of the International School of Modernism), austerity and sobriety, a sparing use of materials, machine production and affordability were considered of great importance. Good Living interiors were modern, airy, practical and easy to keep clean.
 Cover of ‘Goed Wonen’ (Good Living) magazine Volume. 3 (1950), 8. NAI Collection.


H. Hertzberger. Forum repetitive housing units , 1959. NAI Collection / MAQV 754. In 1959, a youthful and inspired Herman Hertzberger crafted a sensational study model using matchboxes. The model shows a stack of ‘housing cells’, which, according to Hertzberger, are the units out of which a house is built. A detached family house might be every Dutchman’s ideal, but there is simply not enough room for houses like that. And so we need to stack. By repeating a single basic unit, the model does evoke a certain sense of monotony, but linking the boxes together also creates a sense of variety and prompts unexpected encounters between people. Hertzberger used this to criticise the uniform house building practice common in the 1950s.
 H. Hertzberger. Forum repetitive housing units , 1959. NAI Collection / MAQV 754


W. Kromhout. Interior Heineken Brewery, Rotterdam, 1922-1932. NAI Collection / KROM 71. In 1922, architect Willem Kromhout was asked to bring some order to Heineken’s disorderly factory site, which had been located in Rotterdam since 1873. He designed the brewery, the coal conveyor, the grain silo and an office building. He also paid considerable attention to the exterior of the new buildings, as they were located on the edge of the site. The brewery was given an impressive façade, reminiscent of a ship’s bow. The two bay windows resemble anchor holes, and the forward-sloping, pointed wall section looks like a ship’s keel. The complex was radically rebuilt over time and the brewery was demolished completely. In 1979 however, a Rotterdam construction company decided to reconstruct part of the building.
 W. Kromhout. Interior Heineken Brewery, Rotterdam, 1922-1932. NAI Collection / KROM 71


W. Kromhout. Heineken Brewery, Rotterdam, 1922-1932. NAI Collection / KROM 71. In 1922, architect Willem Kromhout was asked to bring some order to Heineken’s disorderly factory site, which had been located in Rotterdam since 1873. He designed the brewery, the coal conveyor, the grain silo and an office building. He also paid considerable attention to the exterior of the new buildings, as they were located on the edge of the site. The brewery was given an impressive façade, reminiscent of a ship’s bow. The two bay windows resemble anchor holes, and the forward-sloping, pointed wall section looks like a ship’s keel. The complex was radically rebuilt over time and the brewery was demolished completely. In 1979 however, a Rotterdam construction company decided to reconstruct part of the building.
W. Kromhout. Heineken Brewery, Rotterdam, 1922-1932. NAI Collection / KROM 71


H.P. Berlage. Crown for an Electric Light, no date. NAI Collection / BERL 251.002. Berlage used German biologist Ernst Haeckel’s research work into jellyfish and microscopically small sea creatures as an inspiration for this design. Between 1899 and 1904, Haeckel made hundreds of sketches of the most minute organisms. By exposing patterns and symmetries, he revealed the rigid organisation of natural shapes. Particularly in the first half of the twentieth century, they influenced art and architecture because of the bridge they build between art and science. Berlage attempted to identify a geometric blueprint in Haeckel’s single-cell organisms, stylising them into abstract ornaments within this blueprint. Berlage’s drawing also shows the natural shape on which his design is based.
H.P. Berlage. Crown for an Electric Light, no date. NAI Collection / BERL 251.002




H. Maaskant. Technikon school complex, 1955-1970. NAI Collection / MAAX 3093 Technikon was built to integrate seven technical schools into one single multi-tenanted building. Maaskant designed a ‘sports tower’, a main building with assembly hall and an interconnecting building, linked by a substructure. It never became a true unit however. There are no collective entrances, for example, no shared corridors, staircases or canteens. Critics considered the combination as it had been put together a pointless exercise, but given the government’s strict guidelines and the fragmented drafting of the programme of requirements, it was not only Maaskant’s fault that no integrated school building came about. On completion, the assembly hall became an independent theatre, now known as Hofplein theatre. The drawing shows an impression of Karel Appel’s artwork on the façade.
 H. Maaskant. Technikon school complex, 1955-1970. NAI Collection / MAAX 3093


Th. van Doesburg. Cinema/dance hall in Aubette, Strasbourg, 1926-28. NAI Collection / DOES AB5209 (top) and AB 5206 (bottom). In 1926, Hans Arp and Sophie Tauber commissioned Van Doesburg to decorate and furnish Aubette, an eighteenth-century, neo-classicist entertainment complex in Strasbourg. This was to be an innovative and modern venue, along the lines of the large entertainment centres in Berlin. Van Doesburg envisaged an integration of space, colour and movement, which was why he used the same lines, areas of colour and materials for the ceiling as he did for the walls. Although this is one of his best-known projects, it turned out to be both a financial and an artistic disappointment for him, as he had to make several concessions where materials were concerned.
Th. van Doesburg. Cinema/dance hall in Aubette, Strasbourg, 1926-28. NAI Collection / DOES AB5209 (top) and AB 5206 (bottom).




Piet Blom. Russian palace, Amersfoort, 1988-93. NAI Collection / BLOM 189. One of Piet Blom’s most remarkable designs is the Russian palace for concert pianist Yenna Prusha. He had always supported a lively urban environment and was not concerned with individual homes. In his own view, he was too much of a communist for that. However, he also believed that an opportunity to tell a fairytale should not be wasted. Furthermore, the economic climate was such that turning down commissions was out of the question. Yenna Prusha was the wife of the director of the Wilma construction firm, who wanted a Russian palace for his wife, one that was typical of those buildings in her homeland, like wooden churches with their characteristic onion roofs. Nothing flashy, just something simple.
 Piet Blom. Russian palace, Amersfoort, 1988-93. NAI Collection / BLOM 189


H.Th. Wijdeveld. Possible design for furnishings of SS Nieuw Amsterdam, c. 1935. NAI Collection / WIJD 454 As well as being an architect, Wijdeveld was also a typographer, set designer and interior designer. But, above all, he was a visionary. An adherent of theosophy, he looked for a universal truth behind outward appearances and for the deeper meaning of words, symbols and gestures. His interior designs for Nieuw Amsterdam Steamer depict the sea and the shell as symbols of the eternally cyclical creative force of the cosmos.
H.Th. Wijdeveld. Possible design for furnishings of SS Nieuw Amsterdam, c. 1935. NAI Collection / WIJD 454


Theo van Doesburg and Cornelis van Eesteren, Paris, 1923. Photographer unknown. First published in De Stijl magazine, 1924. Collectie NAi / EEST 10-1318. This photograph is probably taken during Van Eesterens first collaboration with De Stijl in 1923. Their relationship resulted in the architectural drawings and models that put De Stijl architecture on the international map. Gallery owner Leonce Rosenberg had asked members of De Stijl to design a country house with an adjoining ‘cultural centre’ near Paris and to exhibit the designs in his gallery, L’Effort Moderne. Van Eesteren was to design the building (Hotel Particulière), Mondriaan and Van Doesburg were to provide the colour and Rietveld the furniture. Together with Van Doesburg, Van Eesteren also made models and designs for a Maison Particulière and a Maison d’artiste.
 Theo van Doesburg and Cornelis van Eesteren, Paris, 1923. Photographer unknown. First published in De Stijl magazine, 1924. Collectie NAi / EEST 10-1318.




A. Staal. Travel sketch of a North African city, 1936. NAI Collection / STAA t22 After winning the Prix de Rome in 1936, Arthur Staal went on a long trip along the Mediterranean on his motorbike, with a camera and a sketchbook. It was not the usual Prix de Rome journey to Classic Italy. The Supervisory Committee of the Rijksacademie, the national art academy, shelved the plan because of the political situation in Europe and as a ‘cultural’ punishment for Mussolini’s invasion of Abyssinia. An alternative travel route was mapped out for Staal. He travelled via France and Spain to Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, and through Sicily to Greece, returning to the Netherlands by way of Hungary, Austria and Germany
 A. Staal. Travel sketch of a North African city, 1936. NAI Collection / STAA t22


J.M.L. Lauweriks. Tile tableau ‘L’Odorat’, sa. NAI Collection / LAUW 66. In this tableau, Lauweriks proclaims an important theosophic dogma, namely the spiritual awakening of man in three phases, depicted in a combination of stylised female figures and theosophic symbols such as the flower. In the early twentieth century, many artists were drawn to the ideas of theosophy, which propounds that it is not through revelation that we acquire deeper knowledge, but through the unveiling of ancient truths, a mystic, personal insight in the way the earthly is linked to the divine. They looked for ways of giving their work a deeper significance, now that depicting visible reality was no longer sufficient.
 J.M.L. Lauweriks. Tile tableau ‘L’Odorat’, sa. NAI Collection / LAUW 66.




Van den Broek and Bakema. Central Library Rotterdam, 1977-1983. NAI Collection / BROX 2288. In 1977, a competition was held for a new library. Two architects from Rotterdam fought to get the commission and the credit: Carel Weeber and Jaap Bakema. The choice was between an open, inviting building that would assimilate the city, as Bakema suggested, or the reverse, as in Weeber’s design, a closed building that would separate itself entirely from the city. The fuss that surrounded this competition had more to do with mutual intrigue, however. The choice for Bakema’s design was said to have been inspired by the rancour of a jury member, Aldo van Eyck, towards Carel Weeber, with whom he had previously clashed at the TH Delft (now Delft University of Technology). It remains a matter of speculation whether this was indeed the case, but Bakema won anyway, and not Weeber.
 Van den Broek and Bakema. Central Library Rotterdam, 1977-1983. NAI Collection / BROX 2288.




G.F. La Croix. Chauffeur’s house, Zandvoort, 1917. NAI Collection / TJUB VI.8. Very little was ever published about Guillaume Frédéric la Croix (1877-1923). As an architect of the Amsterdam School, he was overshadowed by more outspoken kindred spirits such as Michel de Klerk and Piet Kramer. Art-historical interest was focused more on spatial, expressive architecture than on La Croix’s flat, decorative architecture, which, though refined, was less spectacular. Moreover, as an independent architect he did not build up an extensive oeuvre: he was obstinate in his relationship with his clients and died of tuberculosis at the age of 46.
 G.F. La Croix. Chauffeur’s house, Zandvoort, 1917. NAI Collection / TJUB VI.8.




M.F. Duintjer. Dutch Reformed Church of the Resurrection ‘The Coal-scuttle’. Amsterdam, 1956. Collection: NAI/DUIN 241. After the Second World War, a great need for new churches arose. A lively discussion was taking place about the way in which that new building demand could be met. Those in favour of monumentality and tradition as essential components of ecclesiastical architecture thought churches should be cathedrals, not glorified community centres. Between 1951 and 1964, Duintjer built six churches as part of post-war reconstruction efforts. Four socalled ‘bungalow churches’, with simple floor plans and flat roofs, and two ‘cathedrals’. The Coal-scuttle is such a ‘cathedral’, made up of wall panels, with vertical floor-to-ceiling strips in between that allow daylight to enter, giving the building an almost gothic character.
 M.F. Duintjer. Dutch Reformed Church of the Resurrection ‘The Coal-scuttle’. Amsterdam, 1956. Collection: NAI/DUIN 241.





E. Cuypers. ‘Patria’, colony for civil servants on leave from the Dutch East Indies, The Hague, 1920. NAI Collection / CUYZ 12. From the start of the 19th century, civil servants in the Dutch East Indies were entitled to leave of absence once every six years. They had six months in which to visit family and go on holiday in the Netherlands. Most of them went to The Hague, the most ‘Dutch East Indian’ city of any in the Netherlands. Even so, they felt out of place, they had got used to life in the East Indies, to a different etiquette and lifestyle, which made contact with their families difficult at times. They had their own associations and their own magazine. In 1920, Cuypers designed the ‘Patria’ in The Hague, a collective accommodation to house the people on leave.
 E. Cuypers. ‘Patria’, colony for civil servants on leave from the Dutch East Indies, The Hague, 1920. NAI Collection / CUYZ 12.



C. van Eesteren. Competition for the development of Rokin, Amsterdam, 1924. NAI Collection / EEST 8_49. In 1924, Amsterdam municipal council organised a competition for the redevelopment of Rokin street, in particular the section of the street between Spui and Dam that was to be filled in. To counterbalance the dominance of primarily horizontal accents and bring the height of the buildings and the width of the new Rokin back into proportion, he designed a ‘tower house’ on the corner of Rokin and Spui. However, the competition programme had explicitly asked that existing developments be taken into account, so that the jury brushed Van Eesteren’s design aside in the first round.
 C. van Eesteren. Competition for the development of Rokin, Amsterdam, 1924. NAI Collection / EEST 8_49.


John Habraken. World Bottles, 1962. NAI Collection / VOOV 195 The story goes that beer magnate Freddy Heineken came up with the idea. In the Carribean, he had witnessed waste being put to good use as building materials in the slums. In 1962, he approached John Habraken to design a bottle suitable for building. The square bottles and the ribbed glass were perfect for stacking. The idea, however, progressed no further than a prototype: the brewery’s marketing department feared the company’s image. The beer bottle became interesting once again in 1975, but critics stated that rather than solving the problem of waste disposal, the World Bottle would be more likely to encourage excessive drinking, with people consuming more beer than ever because they wanted to build a house.
 John Habraken. World Bottles, 1962. NAI Collection / VOOV 195


Portrait of K.P.C. de Bazel and his family, ca 1920. Photographer unknown. NAI Collection / BAZE 1546. The NAI archives are brimming with pictures from architects’ private lives: holiday snaps, marriage portraits, travel reports and domestic scenes. They are snapshots, but also pictures for which the subjects posed to some extent. This portrait of Karel de Bazel, his wife and four daughters is a good example of the latter. Carefully staged and using sensitively selected attributes: a book, a piece of needlework, a doll. The photograph exudes diligence, virtuousness, well-being and harmony. In it, De Bazel, who came from a simple background and started as a carpenter’s apprentice, has become an honourable and celebrated architect, engraver, glass artist and furniture designer.
 Portrait of K.P.C. de Bazel and his family, ca 1920. Photographer unknown. NAI Collection / BAZE 1546.




G.F. la Croix. ’t Woonhuys shop premises, Vijzelstraat/Herengracht, Amsterdam, 1916. NAI Collection / TJUB VI-2. The design for this shop was never carried out because the Vijzelstraat street was widened. The large sum of compensation that client NV ‘t Woonhuys received was used to acquire a number of buildings on Keizersgracht. Here, two years later, new premises arose designed by Alphons Jacot, La Croix’s former employer. Because this building resembled La Croix’s previous design, the latter’s indignant friends at the Architectura et Amicitia society decided to publish the design in Wendingen, an arts journal. Later, the drawing was to become part of the exhibition organised on the occasion of Queen Wilhelmina’s 25th anniversary (1923), making it one of the first items to be included in the NAI collection.
 G.F. la Croix. ’t Woonhuys shop premises, Vijzelstraat/Herengracht, Amsterdam, 1916. NAI Collection / TJUB VI-2.




Jo Coenen. Bruges Concert Hall, 1999. NAI Collection / MAQV 825. This design for a concert hall in Bruges was never carried out. The site called for a building that could reconcile the differences in scale between the medieval city centre and a ring road with vast squares. On the old-city side, the design maks a small-scale impression, with its arched shapes and façade detailing. Furthermore, part of the building ‘floats’ above the park that extends underneath the building. On the square side, where low-rise stairs lead directly to the inside of the building, the building is, by contrast, monumental. The design that was built instead was by Belgian architects Paul Robbrecht and Hilde Daem.
 Jo Coenen. Bruges Concert Hall, 1999. NAI Collection / MAQV 825.




J.Th.J. Cuypers. Tiled floor of the Onze Lieve Vrouwe altar in the St. Pancratius Church, Heerlen, 1900. NAI Collection / CUBA t390. The St. Pancratius Church originates from the 12th century, but much has been rebuilt and added since. The most drastic renovations took place between 1900 and 1903, when, under the guidance of Jos Cuypers, advised by his father Pierre Cuypers, the Neo-Gothic chancel from 1863 made way for a new chancel in Neo-Romanesque style. Cuypers was also working on his most famous work during this period: the St. Bavo in Haarlem, which contained Romanesque as well as Byzantine and Moorish elements. Cuypers distanced himself ever more from the Neo-Gothic style in which his father had educated him, and found his own, more eclectic, style.
J.Th.J. Cuypers. Tiled floor of the Onze Lieve Vrouwe altar in the St. Pancratius Church, Heerlen, 1900. NAI Collection / CUBA t390.




Van den Broek en Bakema. Delft University of Technology, 1956-1970. NAI Collection / BROX 1140. The Faculty of Architecture building was a remarkable feature on the campus of Delft University of Technology for almost forty years until it was destroyed in a fire in 2008. It was a building in the functionalist tradition of the New Objectivity movement, which had actually passed its peak when the building was completed in 1970. The open, flexibly partitionable main hall was more in line with the spirit of the times and the democratisation movement of the 1970s. The hall had the characteristics of a public street, with telephone boxes and advertising pillars, and served as a meeting place for students and staff.
 Van den Broek en Bakema. Delft University of Technology, 1956-1970. NAI Collection / BROX 1140.



W. Noorlander. Ceintuurtheater and Amsteltheater, Amsterdam, 1920-1921. NAI Collection / NOOR s1 and s2 The cinema on Ceintuurbaan (left) opened its doors on 2 April 1921. Architect Willem Noorlander made something special of it: built in the style of the Amsterdam School using concrete instead of brick, and with an expressive façade and Art Deco wrought iron decorations. It was the first cinema with a balcony that was not supported on pillars that obstructed the view of the screen. The cinema closed in 1970. Nowadays, the building houses a kitchen shop.
 W. Noorlander. Ceintuurtheater and Amsteltheater, Amsterdam, 1920-1921. NAI Collection / NOOR s1 and s2


Wim Quist. Competition design for Nationale Nederlanden office building, 1986. NAI Collection / PNNR p36. The new accommodation of insurance company Nationale Nederlanden in Rotterdam was the subject of a multiple commission in 1986. Architects Bonnema, Coenen, Kraaijvanger, Van Mourik and Quist were invited to enter the competition. The commission involved a complex of two office buildings for separate use, a facilities building and parking spaces. The design ultimately selected and constructed was that of Abe Bonnema, called the Delftse Poort, with 151 meters the highest office building in the Netherlands at that time.
 Wim Quist. Competition design for Nationale Nederlanden office building, 1986. NAI Collection / PNNR p36.




Gispen company catalogue cover, 1959. NAI Collection / GISP 385. As a designer, W.H. Gispen greatly respected traditional beauty and craftsmanship, but he gradually gained greater appreciation for the aesthetics of mechanically made products. As early as the mid-1920s, his Giso lamps were produced in series, endorsing the Bauhaus ideas about the unity of art and technology. In 1994, the rudiments of Gispen’s company archives were transferred to the NAI. A significant part is formed by the approximately 200 product catalogues for bronzework, lamps and furniture. They are an indispensable source for identifying and dating the hundreds of products the company produced.
 Gispen company catalogue cover, 1959. NAI Collection / GISP 385.


M.A. and J. van Nieukerken. Tiles for the Bataafsche Petroleum Maatschappij, The Hague, 1917. NAI Collection / NIEU 270. Despite the emergence of modern movements such as Functionalism, the Van Nieukerken brothers stuck to their traditional, artisanal and historicising style of architecture. The Algemeen Handelsblad newspaper wrote the following about the Bataafsche Petroleum Maatschappij in 1925: “We do not admire the imitation antique of the Van Nieukerkens in the least and we continue to lament the fact that the Bataafsche [..] did not understand how absurd it is to have a hypermodern company housed in an architectural structure copied from templates three hundred years old.”
 M.A. and J. van Nieukerken. Tiles for the Bataafsche Petroleum Maatschappij, The Hague, 1917. NAI Collection / NIEU 270.




E.A. von Blitz. Dinnerparty at De Haar Castle, 1893. NAI Collection / HAAR ph789. The restoration of De Haar Castle, from ruin to glorious completion, is recorded in detail in countless photos. This photograph was taken during a festive occasion on 3 July 1893. Architect P.J.H. Cuypers threw a dinnerparty in the ruins of the castle, to convince his clients, Baron van Zuylen van Nijevelt de Haar and his wife Baroness Hélène de Rothschild, of his plans for the restoration. The room was specially decorated for the occasion to evoke the medieval atmosphere and aristocratic grandeur of the restored castle. It’s a severly damaged photograph, but one of the great things about it, is the eatable model of the Haar Castle on the richly decorated table: a magnificent cake depicting De Haar Castle emerging from its ruins.
 E.A. von Blitz. Dinnerparty at De Haar Castle, 1893. NAI Collection / HAAR ph789.




J.L.M. Lauweriks. Interior for Deutscher Werkbund exhibition, Cologne, 1914. NAI Collection / LAUW 27. The Deutscher Werkbund was established in Munich in 1907 by architects and designers, aiming to improve education in the applied arts and the quality of products by forging closer ties between art and industry. In doing so, they were at the forefront of the later Bauhaus movement. In Cologne, Henry van de Velde’s theatre construction was shown, alongside a model factory by Adolf Meyer and Walter Gropius, and the glass pavilion of Bruno Taut. The space given to Lauweriks was also used to exhibit curtain materials, with which he clad the walls and ceiling, partly in order to mask the temporary construction of the main hall.
 J.L.M. Lauweriks. Interior for Deutscher Werkbund exhibition, Cologne, 1914. NAI Collection / LAUW 27.




J.B. Bakema. Observation tower ‘Euromast’, Rotterdam, 1958. NAi Collection / MAQV 1144. Bakema designed the 125-meter observation tower on the occasion of the first international horticulture exhibition "Floriade", which was staged in Rotterdam in 1960. He based his idea for the structure on the Wolkenbügel projects designed by El Lissitzky in the 1920s. In the same way that the Wolkenbügels offered views of the new Greater Moscow, the Euromast was to offer views to the reconstructed city of Rotterdam. The four observation posts are located at different heights and point in different directions, so that each of them offers a view of a different part of the area. Bakema's design for the Euromast was not realized. The municipal council preferred the design by H.A. Maaskant.
 J.B. Bakema. Observation tower ‘Euromast’, Rotterdam, 1958. NAi Collection / MAQV 1144.




M. de Klerk. Cover for Wendingen journal. NAI collection / KLER 1241. Michel de Klerk, architect and gifted draughtsman, designed posters and printed materials for a range of businesses and events, such as the Internationale Gastentoonstelling (The International Gas Exhibition), the tourist office in The Hague and the Dierenbescherming (Dutch RSPCA). He designed various covers for the Wendingen journal, which was renowned for its beautiful design and typography.
 M. de Klerk. Cover for Wendingen journal. NAI collection / KLER 1241.




I. Israels. Portrait of architect Jan Wils, 1930. NAI collection / ARCH wl2. Dutch painter Isaac Israels (1865-1934) was one of the Amsterdam Impressionists. He was famous for his paintings of the riotous Paris nightlife, but also for the beach and dune panoramas he made in Scheveningen. After staying in London and Paris, he returned to The Hague in 1923. He probably knew Jan Wils as the architect of the Amsterdam Olympic Stadium. In 1928, Israels won the gold medal in the painting category of the Games’ art tournament. Wils himself won the first prize in the architecture category for his stadium design.
 I. Israels. Portrait of architect Jan Wils, 1930. NAI collection / ARCH wl2.



K.P.C. de Bazel. Glass mosaic for the Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij in Amsterdam, 1922. NAI Collection / BAZE 952. Like he did with all his assignments, De Bazel paid a great deal of attention to the detailing and refinement of both the exterior and the interior. For the building on the Vijzelstraat, he designed countless interior elements, such as the multicoloured floor mosaics, ventilator frames, ceramic dials, telephone booths, the layout of the work rooms and even the cutlery and crockery for the Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij. The building was a Gesamtkunstwerk (total work of art), which was to gain everlasting value by transcending contemporary styles. It became his most famous work, but De Bazel, who died in 1923, never lived to see its completion.
 K.P.C. de Bazel. Glass mosaic for the Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij in Amsterdam, 1922. NAI Collection / BAZE 952.



H. Th. Wijdeveld. High-rise in a park, ca. 1920. NAi Collection / WIJD 347. The design drawings made by Wijdeveld in the early twenties of high-rises in park-like environments were seeped in futuristic utopianism ‘And who is to say that the sky-scraping Towerhouses, which now only serve Trade and Money, will not, in the near future, arise to serve man as his abode?’ These were architect Wijdeveld’s opening words in the 1923 Wendingen special issue on Towerhouses that he had compiled. They were characteristic of how the Netherlands viewed high-rise buildings in the early 1920s. The Skyscraper, a building technique successfully used in the United States mainly for offices, was contemplated as a possible solution to public housing issue.
 H. Th. Wijdeveld. High-rise in a park, ca. 1920. NAi Collection / WIJD 347




Piet Mondriaan in his workshop, no date, photographer unknown. NAI Collection / KARS E3-238. In 1949, Charles Karsten pulled out of the firm of architects that he had with Ben Merkelbach, to devote himself to the fine arts. His passion for art had became apparent at an early age: artists, among them Piet Mondriaan and Kurt Switters, were regular visitors to the Karsten household. The reason Karsten’s archive is so special is because he collected so many documents on art: publications, correspondence and photos relating to architecture, painting, sculpture, exhibitions, individuals and groups of artists. His collection provides a wonderful overview of modern, twentieth century art.
Piet Mondriaan in his studio, no date, photographer unknown. NAI Collection / KARS E3-238


Adriaan Geuze. Groot Mijdrecht Polder, 1989. NAI Collection / TLOC 1. Adriaan Geuze, a participant in a series of seminars and exhibitions on landscape architecture, proposed that the peat grassland areas around Vinkeveen be partially flooded and that land owners be compelled by the government to do so. On the islands that remained, Geuze envisaged construction projects that went as far as including the possibility of high-rise buildings. With this idea, Geuze was turning his back to several traditions in the field of spatial planning in the Netherlands, such as land reclamation, protection of land from water and sparing the ‘Green Heart’.
 Adriaan Geuze. Groot Mijdrecht Polder, 1989. NAI Collection / TLOC 1.




Jan Wils and O. Rosendahl. City Theater Amsterdam, 1935. Photographer unknown. NAI Collection \ TENT n27. In 1935, the City Theater was the Netherlands’ biggest cinema. A steel frame with large glass surfaces and a glass-enveloped tower gave the building a spectacular aspect, especially at night. The interior was one of unprecedented luxury. The expensively designed entrance was intended to prepare visitors for the journey from everyday life to a Hollywood dream world. Wils had the foresight to note, however, that cinemas were too often regarded in the same vein as theatres and that left architecture no choice but to follow suit. Only when film developed as an independent art form would a purer architectural representation of a cinema be possible.
 Jan Wils and O. Rosendahl. City Theater Amsterdam, 1935. Photographer unknown. NAI Collection \ TENT n27


J.A. Brinkman and L.C. van der Vlugt. Feyenoord Stadion Rotterdam, 1934. NAI Collection / BROX 290t1. Originally, Brinkman and Van der Vlugt had very little faith in the success of this large-scale project: management had sky-high ambitions, while the rest of the world was in crisis. Support from Rotterdam dignitaries, industrialists and port barons won them over. The stadium is structured around a steel frame. During the crisis years, steel was used more and more: workmen were cheaper than materials, so work-intensive constructions were favoured. The stadium owes its fame to its flowing lines and open character. The uppermost ring appears to float above the stands below, with a ring of light in between.
 J.A. Brinkman and L.C. van der Vlugt. Feyenoord Stadion Rotterdam, 1934. NAI Collection / BROX 290t1.



Piet Blom. Helmond’s cube houses, 1972. NAI Collection / MAQV 0694. In 1972, Piet Blom designed a cultural centre enclosed by houses for the Helmond council. Inspired by the surrounding woods, he imagined the 183 houses as trees that together would form a ‘wood’. The tilted cubes were placed on hexagonal pillars. The space under the houses served as public space. Blom wanted to create a type of village in the middle of the town, a safe environment with space for different roles. Interaction between private and public life would benefit from the sloping windows in the houses. In the end, 18 houses were completed around the ’t Speelhuis cultural centre, which was also constructed of cubes. At the start of the 1980s, 38 cube houses were built on Blaak in Rotterdam.
 Piet Blom. Helmond’s cube houses, 1972. NAI Collection / MAQV 0694.



Henri E. van den Pauwert. Neon sign tower in Groningen, no date. Photographer unknown. NAI Collection / TENT n227. Van den Pauwert worked at the lighting advice centre of L. Ch. Kalff, a Philips designer and light architect, from 1929 until 1940. Prompted by a significant boom in opportunities for lighting technology within architecture, the LIBU centre was established. LIBU was devoted to the artistic use of light as part of an architectural whole and, to support this vision, it organised numerous ‘light weeks’ in such cities as Amsterdam, Utrecht and Groningen. Historical buildings were illuminated and streets decorated with festive lighting. LIBU also held light shows at the World Fairs in Barcelona (1929), Antwerp (1930) and Paris (1931).
 Henri E. van den Pauwert. Neon sign tower in Groningen, no date. Photographer unknown. NAI Collection / TENT n227.



D. Greiner. Betondorp public library, 1925. NAI collection / GREI 18. Shortly after the First World War there was a serious shortage of cheap housing, skilled labourers and affordable building materials, such as brick. As a result, experiments using concrete to build social housing on the outskirts of Amsterdam were carried out between 1923 and 1925. The urban development plan was based on the garden city, i.e. a design that was spacious and had a lot of green areas, like pubic gardens and courtyards. Greiner’s library is located on the central square in the neighbourhood, which the most important streets open onto.
 D. Greiner. Betondorp public library, 1925. NAI collection / GREI 18.


J. Wils. Stairwell in the home for unmarried women, 1921. NAI collection / WILS 1470. In 1920, the Ons Huis association, which supported the working class, appointed Wils as architect for the refuge for unmarried women in an area of The Hague. Commenting on the design, the national daily newspaper Het Vaderland wrote: “The idea was to infringe on individual life as little as possible and ban any thoughts of a mental institution or poorhouse. As a result, the complex feels more like a large block of flats than an institution."
 J. Wils. Stairwell in the home for unmarried women, 1921. NAI Collection / WILS 1470.


Teun Verstand. Model of an unknown design. NAI Collection / MAQV 0996. Some of the most beautiful and unusual constructed models in the NAI collection are made by Teun Verstand (1948-2003). He tended to use uncommon materials for his models, such as coloured wooden beads, feathers, clothes-pegs and matchboxes. This model is made from cardboard, perspex and eggshells. Eye-catching, but extremely fragile, vulnerable and difficult to preserve.
Teun Verstand. Model of an unknown design. NAI Collection / MAQV 0996.


J.L.M. Lauweriks. Interior for exhibition of Christian Art, Düsseldorf, 1910. NAI Collection / LAUW 10. In 1909, the architect, theosophist and designer Lauweriks designed the interior for the exhibition of Christian art in Düsseldorf. The labyrinthine play of lines on this drawing went on to become his trademark, found in decorations, railings, stained glass windows and business cards. Lauweriks was an influential figure in the period between Jugendstil and the Bauhaus. The labyrinthine motif is also visible, for example, in the work of J.J.P. Oud (site office Oud Mathenesse, 1922) and De Bazel (Nederlandse Handelmaatschappij Amsterdam, 1919-1926).
J.L.M. Lauweriks. Interior for exhibition of Christian Art, Düsseldorf, 1910. NAI Collection / LAUW 10.



J.C. van Epen. Skyscrapers, ca. 1926. NAI Collection / EPEN t275-t287. The Socialist J.C. Van Epen wished to provide working people with improved living surroundings in inexpensively produced dwellings. These skyscraper designs may be seen as reveries on that theme, but he had reservations about his own creations. In a lecture in 1926 he said: “The more stories there are, the more one can earn from that same area of land, and the laborer seeks the inexpensive, so the higher he lives the cheaper it is. Soon I will show you those skyscrapers, and they are splendid monumental buildings with huge shaded areas. From an artistic viewpoint, I think they are splendid ... but when I consider what it is like to live in them, I am glad that I live in my little house by the woods."
J.C. van Epen. Skyscrapers, ca. 1926. NAI Collection / EPEN t275-t287


Photographer unknown. Roof of Amsterdam Central Station. NAI Collection / CENT ph4. Construction of the Central Station began in 1882. Until then, it was customary for stations to be constructed by engineers from the Public Works department. Because of the sensitive urban development context and the national importance of this project, the Amsterdam Central Station, an architect was involved for the first time ever. However, there was a strict division of tasks: while architect Cuypers worked on the station building and the decorations, key construction elements such as the foundations and the roof were the responsibility of the principal engineer of the State Railway Company, J. Leijds.
 Photographer unknown. Roof of Amsterdam Central Station. NAI Collection / CENT ph4.



C. van Eesteren. House on a large river, 1923-24. NAI Collection / EEST 3-226. This house is a design that Van Eesteren made for his parents in Alblasserdam. They wanted to move because Van Eesteren’s brother was getting married and would be moving into the parental home. By the time the design was finished, his parents had already moved to The Hague and at the request of his father, he then drew up plans for a house in the exclusive residential area of Zorgvliet. Neither design was carried out because his parents finally decided to buy an existing house. Van Eesteren, however, was asked to design a garage for this house, the drawing for which he sent to Van Doesburg, whom he asked to make a colour design ‘that would shock the entire neighbourhood.’
C. van Eesteren. House on a large river, 1923-24. NAI Collection / EEST 3-226.



B.T. Boeyinga. Design for government buildings at the top of Minervalaan in Amsterdam, 1919. NAI collection / BOEY t5. In 1919 Boeyinga graduated from the VHBO (Voortgezet en Hooger Bouwkunst Onderricht – a third-level architecture study programme offered by the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten). The course generally concluded with monumental imaginary commissions for concert halls, government buildings or academic buildings, for which Berlage's Pantheon der Menscheid was more or less the template. In that time, the idea of moving the seat of government from The Hague to Amsterdam was regularly considered.
 B.T. Boeyinga. Design for government buildings at the top of Minervalaan in Amsterdam, 1919. NAI collection / BOEY t5.



P. Zwart. Bank for Metz & Co., n.d. NAI collection / ZWAR 113. Piet Zwart started his career with H.P. Berlage and Jan Wils. He later concentrated on interior design (e.g. the de Bruynzeel kitchen) and graphic work, which was characterised by his use of photo montages, geometric shapes and diagonal lettering. Metz & Co., a department store specialising in home furnishings, had a good eye for modern design. The business flourished in the 1920s thanks to its collaboration with designers such as Rietveld, Oud, Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe and Bart van der Leck.
 P. Zwart. Bank for Metz & Co., n.d. NAI collection / ZWAR 113


M. de Klerk. Spaardammerplantsoen social housing, 1914. NAI collection / EIBI t244. The Amsterdam neighbourhood Spaarndammerbuurt was built in the late nineteenth century for workers in the nearby new harbours. As a result of the Housing Act, the street layout was modified and public gardens were laid out. De Klerk designed the surrounding buildings: monumental houses in striking colours that formed a recognisable, orderly composition instead of the usual rows of narrow, grey homes.
 M. de Klerk. Spaardammerplantsoen social housing, 1914. NAI collection / EIBI t244.


P.J.H. Cuypers. Roermond bandstand, 1847. NAI collection / CUYP t280. During the third year of his studies in Antwerp, Cuypers was asked to design a cast iron kiosk. This commission came from van Hendrik Linssen, secretary of the brass band in Roermond, who wanted to use the kiosk for open-air concerts in his garden along the Rur river. Cuypers designed a neo-Gothic, hexagonal kiosk on (cast iron) columns with pointed arches between the columns. The cast iron was produced by the Giesbers ironmongers in Roermond. The kiosk no longer exists.
 P.J.H. Cuypers. Roermond bandstand, 1847. NAI collection / CUYP t280.










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