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Artikelen
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The article discusses the design and the construction of the first poured-concrete house in the Netherlands. Where did the idea originate, who developed it and who played a part in realizing the house? Both aesthetic and technical aspects are discussed. While the civil engineers H.J. Harms and George Small were responsible for the construction, the artist Herman Hana greatly influenced the exterior of the building. Hana probably showed the design to H.P. Berlage, who was himself very interested in this new construction technique and had written an article about pouring houses. Berlage saw concrete as the building material of the future.
Together with Harms, his cousin, Hana was the driving force behind the building of the house. The article also pays attention to how the idea and the construction itself were received and reviewed in the local and national press and to the end result of the enterprise. Opinions tended to differ. Although the construction was presented by the initiators with much enthusiasm – they considered the result a success and proclaimed it to be the beginning of a machinist era – it didn’t gain much following. In the Netherlands, the experiment in Santpoort remained the only one of its kind and those involved suffered considerable financial losses. Still, in many other parts of the world many poured-concrete houses would be built by others. Harms and Small did build another house with the technique that was developed by Thomas Edison and with their patented cast mixture, in Saint-Denis (Paris), but Hana was no longer involved. It turned out to be the last convulsion of an enterprise that had nevertheless given quite an impulse to thinking about the use of concrete in the building industry.
The building in Santpoort had a very different look from the cast-concrete house that Edison had envisioned and for which he had applied a patent in 1908. The mix was made according to the specifications as defined in the patent by the initiators, Small and Harms. The aesthetics corresponded to the innovative nature of the construction method. There was no ornamentation and the building had a flat roof. The visual effect of the building was regarded as ‘odd’. The building industry did not see the house as a prototype for large-scale production in answer to the increasing shortage in housing. It wasn’t until after the First World War ended in 1918 that the house in Santpoort was looked at again, but continuing on the path of pouring was not considered a viable option. Meanwhile, other techniques for building in concrete had been developed and were busily experimented with.
The article discusses the design and the construction of the first poured-concrete house in the Netherlands. Where did the idea originate, who developed it and who played a part in realizing the house? Both aesthetic and technical aspects are discussed. While the civil engineers H.J. Harms and George Small were responsible for the construction, the artist Herman Hana greatly influenced the exterior of the building. Hana probably showed the design to H.P. Berlage, who was himself very interested in this new construction technique and had written an article about pouring houses. Berlage saw concrete as the building material of the future.
Together with Harms, his cousin, Hana was the driving force behind the building of the house. The article also pays attention to how the idea and the construction itself were received and reviewed in the local and national press and to the end result of the enterprise. Opinions tended to differ. Although the construction was presented by the...
The article discusses the design and the construction of the first poured-concrete house in the Netherlands. Where did the idea originate, who developed it and who played a part in realizing the house? Both aesthetic and technical aspects are discussed. While the civil engineers H.J. Harms and...
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The financial administration for the construction of the Utrecht Cathedral has never been thoroughly analysed in the context of its building history, even though the records of the building period of the transept and the no longer extant nave were preserved almost completely. There are relatively few accounts entries that reveal, without additional context, what materials were used for or what work was exactly done. In the end, however, there were enough clues to enable an almost complete reconstruction of the building chronology of both transept and nave of the ‘Dom’.
To achieve this, we used three principles. The ‘heading method’ makes it possible to interpret ambiguous items by looking at a number of other, explicit items in the accounts. For instance, one stage in the building of the nave was reconstructed on the basis of a number of quite explicit items. Then, by ‘adding up clues’ a plausible order of construction can be established by combining a number of less explicit items. The three north chapels in the nave were dated quite accurately with this method. Finally, there is the principle of ‘confirmation’. For instance, the building period of the north chapels in the nave was confirmed in multiple ways, while that of the south chapels is confirmed by the type of stone that was used.
There are many ways to obtain and apply additional information. The building sequence of the clerestory, for instance, was determined by comparing the amount of ironwork that was delivered; analysis of the amounts of mullions that were delivered helped in dating the large transept windows; and the transept’s northern fa.ade may possibly be dated by looking at the number of cornerstones of the buttresses.
Studying the building administration can also offer insights into the building practices in the Middle Ages. We found that the windows of the clerestory were filled up gradually. And, contrary to current ideas, the amount of stone that was prepared at the quarry decreased significantly, after an initial increase. Another striking find is the regular involvement of master craftsmen from the city of Nijmegen in the tenders for the roof constructions.
The building itself provides useful information as well for determining the chronology of the construction. For instance, the vertical sutures in the west wall of the transept suggest that this wall could only have been built after the remnants of the Romanesque transept had been demolished. In some cases, the accounts offer an explanation for irregularities in the construction. For instance, the addition of the side chapels in the nave turns out to have taken place while master builder Jacob van der Borch was still in charge. Because authors before us did not take into account the fact that building materials were sometimes stored for years before they were used, incorrect conclusions may have been drawn about the starting date of the construction of the transept’s west wall and the demolition of the Romanesque nave.
Some questions still remain, however. For instance, how are we to picture the thatched roof over the middle nave that was under construction for three years from 1505 onward? And what has happened to the stone that was delivered for the flying buttresses of the nave?
The financial administration for the construction of the Utrecht Cathedral has never been thoroughly analysed in the context of its building history, even though the records of the building period of the transept and the no longer extant nave were preserved almost completely. There are relatively few accounts entries that reveal, without additional context, what materials were used for or what work was exactly done. In the end, however, there were enough clues to enable an almost complete reconstruction of the building chronology of both transept and nave of the ‘Dom’.
To achieve this, we used three principles. The ‘heading method’ makes it possible to interpret ambiguous items by looking at a number of other, explicit items in the accounts. For instance, one stage in the building of the nave was reconstructed on the basis of a number of quite explicit items. Then, by ‘adding up clues’ a plausible order of construction can be established by combining a number of...
The financial administration for the construction of the Utrecht Cathedral has never been thoroughly analysed in the context of its building history, even though the records of the building period of the transept and the no longer extant nave were preserved almost completely. There are...
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Immediately after the Second World War, the opposites of right and wrong strongly influenced the view of what happened in the architectural profession during the German occupation. In order to understand the reception of architecture and National Socialism in the post-war Netherlands, it is useful to trace how this image was formed. The Honour Council for Architecture and Applied Art, which was established after the Second World War in order to bring ‘wrong’ architects to justice, is a good point to start.
When the war ended, those architects could face various forms of justice, depending on their behaviour during the occupation. Architects that had committed crimes would be tried before a court of special criminal law, just like other citizens. To that end, the Dutch government in exile in London had issued the Special Criminal Law Decree, in December 1943, and the Tribunal Decree, in September 1944. In addition to that, Honour Councils were established for various occupational groups that were intended to take disciplinary measures against those who had acted reprehensibly in the practising of their profession during the war, even if they had not actually committed crimes as defined by law. One of these councils was the Honour Council for Architecture.
One problem was that initially there was no legal ground for a purge among artists in the Netherlands: the Purging Decree of January 1944, issued by the Dutch government in London, only concerned civil servants. And although no one worried too much about this when the Honour Councils for the Arts were established, this omission would considerably hamper the councils later on, especially when it came to enforcing the measures imposed upon individuals. It wasn’t until 5 April 1946 that the Artists Purging Law came into effect, giving the councils the legal authority to issue verdicts. In December of the same year, the Honour Council for Architecture had already stopped its activities, meaning that, in the end, it had only been able to perform its duties on a sound legal basis for little more than six months.
Although in hindsight the work of the Honour Councils for the Arts was generally regarded a failure, their verdicts have greatly influenced the image of the architects concerned. The reputations of an entire generation of architects were either saved or destroyed. During the first few decades after the Second World War, convictions by the Honour Council were not lightly forgotten by fellow architects. The consequences of the verdicts from the Honour Council therefore still influence the evaluation of the work of these convicted architects.
Immediately after the Second World War, the opposites of right and wrong strongly influenced the view of what happened in the architectural profession during the German occupation. In order to understand the reception of architecture and National Socialism in the post-war Netherlands, it is useful to trace how this image was formed. The Honour Council for Architecture and Applied Art, which was established after the Second World War in order to bring ‘wrong’ architects to justice, is a good point to start.
When the war ended, those architects could face various forms of justice, depending on their behaviour during the occupation. Architects that had committed crimes would be tried before a court of special criminal law, just like other citizens. To that end, the Dutch government in exile in London had issued the Special Criminal Law Decree, in December 1943, and the Tribunal Decree, in September 1944. In addition to that, Honour Councils were established for various...
Immediately after the Second World War, the opposites of right and wrong strongly influenced the view of what happened in the architectural profession during the German occupation. In order to understand the reception of architecture and National Socialism in the post-war Netherlands, it is...