Artikelen

• Vierakter gewijd aan stedelijke leegte. Verslag van de discussiedag over het Verleidelijk Stadsbeeld, Rotterdam 22 februari 1991

  Quarters considered for large-scaled re-arrangement demand reflection on the discipline of town-planning. The business agreement to realize urban renewal threatens the architect's and town planner's spatial quality and tends to isolation of the renewed area within the extant town. The Dutch Institute of Architecture arranged an exhibition and a debate on the theme of the 'Seductive Townscape'.

  The culture of urban expansion has changed into a culture of urban transformation. A new interest, mostly proceeding from economic considerations, has arisen in the historical nucleus of the strongly fragmented town of to-day. One of the main purposes in the governmental Fourth Note on Area Planning is improvement of the urban environment to trade and industry.

  New development strategies as city management and city marketing present themselves by means of the 'seductive townscape'. This approach founds urban renewal on the town's cultural and economical potency. Rivalry between towns has started internationally, which rivalry threatens the urban identity. Top locations to business became 'exchangeable'.

  Confining measures, which must guarantee the urban identity, decrease the town's chances in the internationally set up contest between towns. Seductive townscapes are developed for the so-called urban emptiness’s. These projects mostly are isolated incidents in the historically grown town. The debate was based on four approaches to 'planning research' as introduced in the catalogue to the exhibition.

  The plan as embodiment of city marketing (Amersfoort), the plan as script in a theatrical show-piece (Groningen), the plan as a morphological instrument with respect to the town plan's continuity (Maastricht/Rotterdam) and the plan, which Iets architecture and town-planning coincide (site of Sphinx-Céramique, Maastricht).

  In Amersfoort the Public Private Partnership misses the link with history. Amersfoort's new identity is an example of sheer verbal town-planning, an artist's impression to seduce trade and industry. In Groningen townscapes function as attractions. The traditional bond with the site declines. The Master plan 2000 makes the Department of Area Planning and project developers cooperate.

  Attention however shifted to architectural filling up too fast. Architects improvise, but the scenario writer is missing. A town-plan not being on hand in Coenen's plan for the Maastricht site of Sphinx- Céramique historical, urban and architectural forms are point of departure. A general hypothesis on the semantic change of the town is missing.

  In Rotterdam conceptions are coupled with a renewed interest in morphology. The Parklane-draft for Rotterdam-West guarantees an optimal connection of continuity and renewal of urban identity. A clear framework has been created for later architectural detail. Thus the municipality must plan the urban context, fix marks and junctions and watch over the quality of public spaces.

  Participants of the Public Private Partnership must be roused to comprise their projects both and public spaces in a total plan. Coherence with other parts of the site is important as well. The discipline of town planning must be reconsidered and, laying-out, be forced to an analysis of the morphological and historical urban structure.

  Quarters considered for large-scaled re-arrangement demand reflection on the discipline of town-planning. The business agreement to realize urban renewal threatens the architect's and town planner's spatial quality and tends to isolation of the renewed area within the extant town. The Dutch Institute of Architecture arranged an exhibition and a debate on the theme of the 'Seductive Townscape'.

  The culture of urban expansion has changed into a culture of urban transformation. A new interest, mostly proceeding from economic considerations, has arisen in the historical nucleus of the strongly fragmented town of to-day. One of the main purposes in the governmental Fourth Note on Area Planning is improvement of the urban environment to trade and industry.

  New development strategies as city management and city marketing present themselves by means of the 'seductive townscape'. This approach founds urban renewal on the town's cultural and...

  Quarters considered for large-scaled re-arrangement demand reflection on the discipline of town-planning. The business agreement to realize urban renewal threatens the architect's and town planner's spatial quality and tends to isolation of the renewed area within the extant town. The...

  Martijn de Moor

  49-52

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• Cornelis Springer als topograaf

  Cornelis Springer (1817-1891) was an important townscape painter. Archives collect his drawings because of their topographical indications. However, in Springer's oeuvre the artist and the topographer contend for the mastery. Do his paintings and drawings really contain documentary value?

  This article discusses some image-conventions typical of Springer and makes a comparison with several works of other artists Springer showing dependence of these examples. Thus one of the principles he applied to his paintings is the insertion of a building, drawn after reality, into an invented environment. The principle of removal is related to the principle of insertion. Here different topographical elements are brought together in one representation. Converting, or the placement of small alterations in extant architecture is a very general principle in Springer's oeuvre.

  Even more than converting the proportioning of buildings is characteristic of Springer's way of painting. Archaisement is the last principle he applied to his townscapes. Being a romanticist Springer liked to place his representations in a Dutch 17th century setting. All five of these principles detract from the likeness of the represented architecture.

  The methods Springer applied rendering extant architecture not only differs in their measures of radicality, but also in frequency. Sometimes even two or more of these principles were combined in one painting at the same time. Apart from these personal methods Springer also borrowed principles and motifs from the oeuvre of other artists.

  Kaspar Karsen (1810-1896) was his most important teacher. Therefore Springer's early oeuvre is clearly influenced by Karsen. On the occasion of the Rembrandt festivities (1852) Karsen and Springer painted a sight of The Hague in an archaizing 17th century fashion. A lithograph of Jan Weissenbruch (1822-1880) however is the real example.

  Lithographs of the English artist Samuel Prout (1783-1852) both and the oeuvre of H.P. Schouten (1747-1822) and C. Pronk (1691-1759) inspired Springer to copying these townscapes as well, although the upholstering of the representations mostly is Springer's own. Thus the oeuvre of Cornelis Springer cannot be used as a source for topographical study in its own right.

  His numerous sketchbooks prove that Springer in any case strove to give his townscapes a topographical content. His methods on the other hand contradict this supposition. Springer's oeuvre is being characterized by a longing for an ideal image rather than a resembling representation of reality. In his entire career Springer has been dominated by the nostalgic ideal of the small 17th century Dutch town.

  The transition from invented to recognizable townscapes did not change this idealistic character of his oeuvre. The topographical element was subordinated to the pleasant imaginary setting. Often several topographical elements are united. Sometimes Springer's representations are based on other works of art. In the 19th century copying other artist's compositions probably was not unusual at all.

  Cornelis Springer (1817-1891) was an important townscape painter. Archives collect his drawings because of their topographical indications. However, in Springer's oeuvre the artist and the topographer contend for the mastery. Do his paintings and drawings really contain documentary value?

  This article discusses some image-conventions typical of Springer and makes a comparison with several works of other artists Springer showing dependence of these examples. Thus one of the principles he applied to his paintings is the insertion of a building, drawn after reality, into an invented environment. The principle of removal is related to the principle of insertion. Here different topographical elements are brought together in one representation. Converting, or the placement of small alterations in extant architecture is a very general principle in Springer's oeuvre.

  Even more than converting the proportioning of buildings is...

  Cornelis Springer (1817-1891) was an important townscape painter. Archives collect his drawings because of their topographical indications. However, in Springer's oeuvre the artist and the topographer contend for the mastery. Do his paintings and drawings really contain documentary value?

  ...

  J. Schaeps

  53-58

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• Het Curaçaose Monumentenplan een toverstok? Een gesprek met dr. ir. Percy Henriquez en architect Ben Smit

  Since the 1930's the beautiful historical town centre of Willemstad in Curaçao  falls into decay. Not before 1980 the town could depend on governmental intervention and support, which growing attention still was strengthened by the Unesco World Decade for Cultural Development, the Dutch Unesco-committee nominating the Willemstad-restoration a specific project. In 1989 an ambitious Plan of Monuments was presented.

  At the moment four organizations are set up to coordinate the total process of restoration. Will this plan really appear to be the magic wand to change degenerated Willemstad into a vital town with a truce of monuments showing to full advantage again? In this article some aspects of the plan are discussed with two experts.

  Percy Henriquez (Curaçao  1909) was trained an engineer and occupied different posts on the island of Curaçao  from 1948 till 1963. Henriquez advocated a wider substructure of the protection of monuments as part of a total plan to economical revitalization comprising area planning, town renovation and tourism. He reproaches post-war Holland an anti-colonialist mood and an ordinary lack of sense of responsibility with respect to the ex-colonies.

  The Curaçao  Plan of Monuments is a monstrum of complexity after Dutch organizational structures. The plan misses the indication of specific museum areas in Willemstad as well, although Henriquez pleaded the far-reaching restoration of certain quarters as direct attractions for tourists. The development of the Brion Square illustrates Henriquez' fear that the Plan of Monuments does not fit into Curaçao  relations.

  The Brion Square is a largely unbuilt strip on the western bank of the Annabay which separates both central parts of Willemstad, Punda en Otrabanda. While the Curaçao  Plan of Monuments only just had been presented the Curaçao  authorities gave a refusal for a redestination-project of the Brion Square to the French investment-group Ultra Classic, the sketches of this group showing a new, far-reaching building up with a height of more than six layers.

  Ben Smit (Amsterdam 1922) was trained an architect and settled on Curaçao  in 1943. During the fifties Smit was chairman of the Committee of Architecture of the Cultural Centre of Curaçao  and restored the historical houses Stroomzigt and Penha. Smit focuses the redestination of the Brion Square around the square. The buildings must harmonize with the other bank, which in fact is the eastern wall of the square. A new western front destroys the square's openness and the pleasant changing perspectives of the alleys coming out on it.

  According to Smit architects and contractors in Curaçao  lack restoration-expertise because of their insufficient knowledge of old local building methods and materials. Adaptations and additions to monuments must be carried out as unobtrusively as possible, but the imitation of historical styles to stress tourism rather than the liveableness of the built environment tends to an architectural fair. Therefore Smit is opposed to the institution of a museum area in Otrabanda.

  Apart from the Plan of Monuments to promote the Willemstad-restoration, modern Antillean architecture must be evaluated at the same time. To provide the historically built environment with good modern architecture is almost as important as her preservation.

  Since the 1930's the beautiful historical town centre of Willemstad in Curaçao  falls into decay. Not before 1980 the town could depend on governmental intervention and support, which growing attention still was strengthened by the Unesco World Decade for Cultural Development, the Dutch Unesco-committee nominating the Willemstad-restoration a specific project. In 1989 an ambitious Plan of Monuments was presented.

  At the moment four organizations are set up to coordinate the total process of restoration. Will this plan really appear to be the magic wand to change degenerated Willemstad into a vital town with a truce of monuments showing to full advantage again? In this article some aspects of the plan are discussed with two experts.

  Percy Henriquez (Curaçao  1909) was trained an engineer and occupied different posts on the island of Curaçao  from 1948 till 1963. Henriquez advocated a wider substructure of the protection of...

  Since the 1930's the beautiful historical town centre of Willemstad in Curaçao  falls into decay. Not before 1980 the town could depend on governmental intervention and support, which growing attention still was strengthened by the Unesco World Decade for Cultural Development,...

  Mariëtte Kamphuis

  37-43

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• De incomplete stad. Voorstel voor de monumentenzorg in de jaren negentig

  The modern protection of monuments must be disposed of conservative views with regard to urban renewal. This article deals with monuments as spearheads in a future-directed policy. Hereby a strategy which integrates the protection of monuments with other fields such as town development and urban renewal replaces the interest in each separate volume or in the urban ensemble.

  The author sketches three perspectives: reorganization of the civil service occupied with the administration and preservation of a confined number of registered monuments. Second: knowledge of the town's spatial development must be acquired systematically which knowledge can promote the integration of historical potencies and qualities with the contemporary town plan.

  Thirdly: a completely automated data-base with regard to the town's development can democratize this knowledge to the citizenry. Functional spread of the results of advanced historical research is a condition to revive a specific cultural identity of the town. The new Act of Monuments (1988) provides municipalities with a better position with respect to the protection of monuments.

  A mainly technical office modestly manned and for preference integrated with the department of Area Planning must use new juridical and financial possibilities to give the protection of monuments a pioneer-function in the process of the improvement of urban space. Some qualifications of the municipal committee of monuments can be handed over to the board of welfare monuments being submitted to the same rules as other building schemes. For monuments are no exception to the rule, monuments are leading.

  Thus Giorgio Grassi's design for the Public Library in Groningen makes up a wonderful connection with history raising the artificial boundary line between monument and contemporary architecture. The office of monuments in the same town must be manned with an archaeologist, a historian of structural engineering and a historian of architecture, the knowledge as acquired by these specialists on the one side concerning stock-taking and preservation of valuable artifacts, on the other hand the gradual design of a history of the material beauty of the town.

  This design contributes to a historical cultural notion and offers starting points for the contemporary design of the town as well. Data with respect to the history, preservation and restoration of the registered monuments can be coordinated by means of a computerized information system, which strengthens the coherence of the municipal policy of monuments and the process of urban renewal.

  By the coupling of three-dimensional representation with relevant texts and sources this system offers possibilities to the scientific results of research and the presentation of data on the town's history to the citizenry. At the development of this system one has to take such future use into consideration.

  The modern protection of monuments must be disposed of conservative views with regard to urban renewal. This article deals with monuments as spearheads in a future-directed policy. Hereby a strategy which integrates the protection of monuments with other fields such as town development and urban renewal replaces the interest in each separate volume or in the urban ensemble.

  The author sketches three perspectives: reorganization of the civil service occupied with the administration and preservation of a confined number of registered monuments. Second: knowledge of the town's spatial development must be acquired systematically which knowledge can promote the integration of historical potencies and qualities with the contemporary town plan.

  Thirdly: a completely automated data-base with regard to the town's development can democratize this knowledge to the citizenry. Functional spread of the results of advanced historical research is a...

  The modern protection of monuments must be disposed of conservative views with regard to urban renewal. This article deals with monuments as spearheads in a future-directed policy. Hereby a strategy which integrates the protection of monuments with other fields such as town development and...

  Ed Taverne

  44-48

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