From “Team “Team 10: In Search of a Utopia of the Present” (NAi Publishers, Rotterdam)
MUNICIPAL ORPHANAGE (1955-1960) Aldo van Eyck
Aldo van Eyck, circa 1960
Good design does not begin with what we can do, but rather with questions about what we really want to do. D.Wann, “Deep Design” 1996
The era following the Second World War is characterized with reconstruction, consumerism, and international conflicts. The postwar reconstruction was generated by a number of technological advancements and the rise of capitalism, which resulted in a doctrine based primarily upon mechanistic theories and concepts. In response to the mechanistic approach, a rebellion was formed. This generation of cultural rebellions was committed to improving the deteriorating conditions of urban populations and redefining the human community. Aldo van Eyck, the Dutch architect, collaborated with like-minded individuals dedicated to improving the postwar situation and they formed the international group of architects called Team Ten. The group considered they a part of the humanist rebellion to reclaim the human aspect lost in postwar modern architecture and welfare state functionalism. After the war, numerous reconstruction projects were initiated, which meant the complete rebuilding of cities. During the 1950’s, it was during Van Eyck’s involvement with the Office of Public Works in Amsterdam in which he was able to put his humanistic ideas into practice. Rather than seeking standard, large-scale projects, he chose the assignment of resolving the urban plight of lost public recreational space, particularly the humble urban playgrounds. Consequentially, Van Eyck successfully designed 734 playgrounds in Amsterdam over duration of 30 years.
From: Strauven, F., 'Aldo van Eyck, The Shape of Relativity', Architectura & Natura 1998
Municipal Orphanage (1955-1960) In 1954, the City of Amsterdam commissioned Van Eyck to design the Municipal Orphanage. The Orphanage was to be the residence for 125 youths, orphans or children from broken families ranging in ages 4 to 20 years of age; as well, to house a third of the 30 - 40 staff members. Van Eyck recognized the evident social and cultural failings developed from most of the postwar reconstruction projects. There was a decline in the quality of human relations and a lack of community. Van Eyck identified the need to transform a space into a place; this process alters a building from merely a structure into a human dwelling. The concept of place is an integral element of human existence and is acquired through the cognitive processes of memory and anticipation. This combination of memory and anticipation accounts for a real interpretation of space and the experiential depth of an observer.
From: Strauven, F., 'Aldo van Eyck, The Shape of Relativity', Architectura & Natura 1998
The design principals behind Van Eyck’s humanistic approach were for the building to represent a collective community and the function of the architecture as “the in-between.” The emphasis was for architecture to be the means for developing relationships between people, rather than becoming the primary goal or product. Van Eyck’s conception of “the in-between” spaces was articulated through a path-based design and carefully studying design circulation patterns and meeting points. He ensured the plan was derived from process and mobility.
From: Strauven, F., 'Aldo van Eyck, The Shape of Relativity', Architectura & Natura 1998
Beyond Plasticity
It was Van Eyck’s shift toward path-based design based upon architectural elements of movement and interaction that indicated a rejection of postwar economic, bureaucratic Functionalism and From: Strauven, F., 'Aldo van Eyck, Neo-Monumental conceptions of institutionalized plasticity. The The Shape of Relativity', Architectura & Natura 1998 orphanage lacked the functional aspect inherent to plastic architecture for it was not developed from the exact designation of its practical demands. Neither was it designed in a static symmetrical plan favored by other urban institutions such as educational, military, industrial, or medical organizations. Rather than architecture built to sanction an internal control of centralized surveillance, Van Eyck planned for the opportunity of space to be engaged and shaped by the interactions of its occupants. Blending of Inside and Outside
Van Eyck articulated inside and outside spaces with defined transitional in-between places. Within plastic architecture, inside and outside spaces pass over into one another and are designed in an abstract form of fitting for function. Based upon the concept of in-between, the transitional space creates a simultaneous awareness of what is signified on either side. This application refers to Van Eyck’s notions of the role cognitive processes of memory and anticipation have upon humanizing space. The concept of place is an integral element of human existence and is acquired through the cognitive processes of memory and anticipation. The combination of memory and anticipation account for a real interpretation of space and the experiential depth. Humanizing space requires space and time to be rethought of as place and occasion. Functional space lacks the essential properties of place and occasion. Place requires a form of temporal meaning and occasion is dependent on spatial meaning, both of which are signified by virtue of memory and anticipation. It is the intertwining of places remembered and places anticipated that develop into the temporal space of the present. Van Eyck designed each interior space to respond to the internal vein of mobility and communicate with individual outdoor space. The intermediary places are clearly defined without depending upon barriers but based on experiential contrast of the occupied space. An example of this is depicted in the images above of the patio of a residential unit. Each primary space is clearly defined through the articulation of intermediate space, either outside and inside or between one space and another. Additionally, the staggered formation of each unit allows for the observer to identify and orientate him or herself to the exterior space of the orphanage. The psychological functions of orientation and identification correlate with the cognitive processes of memory and anticipation in the formation of place and dwelling.
From: Strauven, F., 'Aldo van Eyck,The Shape of Relativity', Architectura & Natura 1998
Place - City and Home
Path-based design is a predominant element of Van Eyck’s design for more than primarily the concepts of individual movement and interactions. Van Eyck was interested in the development of structuring urban and building space in favor of path-based, away from the concept of universal space. Criticisms of universal space pertained to its references of technocratic thinking, which is indifferent to any free forms of social interactions. Universal spaces were unable to protect the quality of human community within urban populations because the unstable economic, social, political, and technological situation created antagonistic conflicts of public spatial use. Urban planners and architects supported the concept of modeling architecture around the idea of the “street” and the correlating group spaces because street spaces create a social vitality. Spaces were described as being either ‘servant’ or ‘served’ spaces. Van Eyck structured the interior veins as a ‘servant ‘space for it functioned to assist with mobility and an example of a ‘served’ space was an inner courtyard for it to protect the human community. Additionally, Van Eyck was interested in the microcosmic analogy of the dwelling as a city and the macrocosmic analogy of the city for the dwelling. A parallel is made through comparing passages within dwellings to streets and urban public plazas to living rooms. Comparisons of the images above and below depict the parallels between the plan view of the Orphanage and a city map of Amsterdam, similarly a street corner and an inner courtyard. The analogies are continued once Van Eyck understood the unique spatial orientation of a child would differ from an adult’s. From a child’s perspective an analogy between the city and house is conceived either as a small world within a large one, a large world within a small one, a house as a city, or as a city as a house. Van Eyck’s intention was the design of the orphanage to be spatially open to be created into a home - without the prescribed boundaries of modern architecture.
City Map of Amsterdam
Amsterdam - street corner
