Artikelen

• Traditie als maatstaf voor vernieuwing in de kerkelijke architectuur van de middeleeuwen. De rol van oud en nieuw in het proces van bevestiging en doorbreking van maatschappelijke structuren

  'Progress' and 'standstill', 'conservation' and 'innovation' are quite relative concepts in the history of architecture, too. The attainment of a social position of power is always accompanied by the question of how this can be given adequate material expression. When it concerns new groupings, the answer to this question is not immediately obvious, although the 'parvenu' will always wish to adorn himself with the attributes of the 'arrivé'.

  These 'attributes' include the architectonic concept and the style in which it is executed. Sometimes both are inextricably connected, as is the case with the French kings' churches, which we usually call Gothic cathedrals. Generally, they are two separate things: the concept of the building is maintained, whereas the form language is 'modern'. If the old form language is also retained, this involves more than a certain sense of tradition.

  This explicitly archaic way of building is intended to suggest great age. This archaism is the most radical expression of hierarchic relations. In many cases it is the reflection of social structures subjected to increasing pressure. The reverse is the introduction of new architectonic concepts and building styles. One of the most impressive examples is the reception of French 'kings' Gothic by cathedral chapters outside the Kingdom of France.

  Thus the concept of the kings' cathedral could no longer be used for the hierarchically subordinate 'ordinary' collegiate churches in the episcopal towns. It was therefore an affront to the cathedral chapters when town authorities adopted the cathedral architecture tor their parish churches. Thus they emphasized their 'independent' position. After all, the town community had always been a 'Fremdkörper' in a society based on landownership, lack of personal freedom and God-given hierarchic relations.

  The town citizens, in a position to do so because of increasing power and wealth, gradually appropriated all the major architectonic status symbols of the establishment, both worldly and spiritual. Two very clear examples of this are the use of the seigneur tower for parish churches and other town buildings, and the construction of fraternity choirs and council chapels.

  'Progress' and 'standstill', 'conservation' and 'innovation' are quite relative concepts in the history of architecture, too. The attainment of a social position of power is always accompanied by the question of how this can be given adequate material expression. When it concerns new groupings, the answer to this question is not immediately obvious, although the 'parvenu' will always wish to adorn himself with the attributes of the 'arrivé'.

  These 'attributes' include the architectonic concept and the style in which it is executed. Sometimes both are inextricably connected, as is the case with the French kings' churches, which we usually call Gothic cathedrals. Generally, they are two separate things: the concept of the building is maintained, whereas the form language is 'modern'. If the old form language is also retained, this involves more than a certain sense of tradition.

  This explicitly archaic way of building is intended to suggest great age. This archaism...

  'Progress' and 'standstill', 'conservation' and 'innovation' are quite relative concepts in the history of architecture, too. The attainment of a social position of power is always accompanied by the question of how this can be given adequate material expression. When it concerns new...

  Aart J.J. Mekking

  205-223

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• Een huis om te bewaren. De ontstaansgeschiedenis 1840-1848 van het strafcellengebouw gelegen ten noorden van het Pesthuis in Leiden, in de volksmond: de Vrouwengevangenis

  In the House of Detention in Amsterdam, completed in 1850, the thermo-ventilation system used there seems to result in an oppressive climate, especially in summer. In his letter of July 20, 1851 Warnsinck states that this problem had also been noticed in the model prison of Pentonville, where the cell windows were made to open again in such a way that communication through the open windows was nevertheless impossible. As an additional advantage he remarks that in summer there is no need to light a fire, so it is cheaper, too…!

  He encloses a sketch of a solution, so that in Amsterdam the windows can also be opened again. In 1843 the architect Warnsinck and the engineer Van Gendt were sent by the Dutch government to England and Scotland to study the latest developments in prison design and construction. On their return they reported very positively about the ‘Pennsylvanian system’, and especially about its most recent culmination in the model prison of Pentonville in North-London.

  Shortly thereafter Warnsinck and van Gendt were commissioned with the design of the new prisons in Amsterdam (1850) and Utrecht (1853), whereby they followed the Pentonville-model very closely. At the same time Warnsinck was also appointed as the first architect-adviser to the Department of Justice, with the special task of introducing the principles of the ‘cellular system’ in the design of other prisons in the Netherlands. As such he advised on the design of a small complex of disciplinary cells in the Military Prison, housed in the former Pesthuis of Leyden.

  In his proposals for this very small building he also stuck very closely to the Pentonville model, including the system of ‘thermoventilation’. The eventual building, completed in 1848, shows that his advice was only partially followed up by the responsible authorities. Architecturally the building showed many features of Pentonville to the smallest details, however the thermo-ventilation system was left out and was realised for the first time in the Amsterdam Prison. Despite this deficiency the Leyden prison can be considered as the prototype of the ‘cellular prison’ in the Netherlands.

  In the House of Detention in Amsterdam, completed in 1850, the thermo-ventilation system used there seems to result in an oppressive climate, especially in summer. In his letter of July 20, 1851 Warnsinck states that this problem had also been noticed in the model prison of Pentonville, where the cell windows were made to open again in such a way that communication through the open windows was nevertheless impossible. As an additional advantage he remarks that in summer there is no need to light a fire, so it is cheaper, too…!

  He encloses a sketch of a solution, so that in Amsterdam the windows can also be opened again. In 1843 the architect Warnsinck and the engineer Van Gendt were sent by the Dutch government to England and Scotland to study the latest developments in prison design and construction. On their return they reported very positively about the ‘Pennsylvanian system’, and especially about its most recent culmination in the model prison of Pentonville in...

  In the House of Detention in Amsterdam, completed in 1850, the thermo-ventilation system used there seems to result in an oppressive climate, especially in summer. In his letter of July 20, 1851 Warnsinck states that this problem had also been noticed in the model prison of Pentonville, where...

  Herbert van Hoogdalem

  224-232

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• Smaak en objectiviteit

  How can we be sure that we understand seventeenth-century classicism? Not the rules of the art, but the beauty of it. Take for instance the Amsterdam town hall by Jacob van Campen, a building which has the appearance of an unattractive block, at least in my eyes and in those of some nineteenth- and eighteenth-century critics. A colleague of Van Campen, Philips Vingboons, also made a design tor the town hall, but that was rejected by the city. This design was based on the architecture of Palladio and was much nicer (in my eyes).

  It appears to be very difficult to reconstruct the debate on the aesthetics of classicist architecture in the seventeenth century in Holland, because the debate was nearly always focused on artistic rules or on functionalist problems. If we want to know more about the aesthetics of seventeenth-century classicism, we should use our own judgement in matters of taste as a clue to detect the differences in the appreciation of architects, clients and critics in those days. Some architectural historians think that their personal taste must be concealed in order to be as objective as possible. That seems a mistake to me, because our modern taste could be a parameter.

  How can we be sure that we understand seventeenth-century classicism? Not the rules of the art, but the beauty of it. Take for instance the Amsterdam town hall by Jacob van Campen, a building which has the appearance of an unattractive block, at least in my eyes and in those of some nineteenth- and eighteenth-century critics. A colleague of Van Campen, Philips Vingboons, also made a design tor the town hall, but that was rejected by the city. This design was based on the architecture of Palladio and was much nicer (in my eyes).

  It appears to be very difficult to reconstruct the debate on the aesthetics of classicist architecture in the seventeenth century in Holland, because the debate was nearly always focused on artistic rules or on functionalist problems. If we want to know more about the aesthetics of seventeenth-century classicism, we should use our own judgement in matters of taste as a clue to detect the differences in the appreciation of architects, clients and...

  How can we be sure that we understand seventeenth-century classicism? Not the rules of the art, but the beauty of it. Take for instance the Amsterdam town hall by Jacob van Campen, a building which has the appearance of an unattractive block, at least in my eyes and in those of some...

  Wim Denslagen

  233-235

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