Leendert van der Vlugt

After the Rotterdam architect Michiel Brinkman had died in 1925, his son John Brinkman ( Civil ), the architectural firm and appointed Leendert van der Vlugt the co-director. The new company got the name of J. A. Brinkman & L.C. van der Vlugt, ( Vlugt pronounced as " Vlücht ").

Chief architect of the Van Nelle Factory

The activities of the firm Brinkman & Van der Vlugt only lasted about ten years, since Leendert van der Vlugt 1936 fatally ill ( Hodgkin's Disease). The Dutch architecture thus lost in a short time a second young architectural talent after 1935 already in January Duiker was different. These two architects had created works with an international appeal. In Leendert van der Vlugt it was the Van Nelle Factory in Rotterdam with Jan Duiker Zonnestraal the sanatorium in Hilversum.

Since the death of Leendert van der Vlugt the formulation of the authorship of his work is used incorrectly. In all the books of architectural history authorship has been reproduced with YES Brinkman & L.C. van der Vlugt (sometimes with Mart Stam ). In such a formulation is suggested that JA Brinkman was the creative man of the company. The matter was Jacob Bakema employed in a small book entitled " LC van der Vlugt ". That was not John Brinkman the designing architect, but Leendert van der Vlugt seen from the following quotes from the book of Bakema:

  • Former Van Nelle Director C. H. van der Leeuw, " Brinkman Jr. (John Brinkman ) played in the designing and building of the Van Nelle Factory not the least role. ... " (page 13). Here it is worth noting that John Brinkman ( * 1902) trained at the TU Delft in 1931 graduated, not as an architect but as a civil engineer. He probably had less creative abilities than his father Michiel Brinkman.
  • Mart Stam: "I worked in the office of Brinkman & Van der Vlugt as a charting artist ... The curved wall of the office part had to a lesser extent my sympathy - but Van der Vlugt was responsible ... " (page 18).
  • Le Corbusier on May 30, 1936: " The modern architecture loses in Van der Vlugt one of its best representatives I know from him his great work. , The Van Nelle factory in Rotterdam ... During the subsequent Déjeuner I have Van der Vlugt know ... How many buildings are there in the modern world who can expect to compete with the van Nelle Factory? ... it is very regrettable that we do not see him (van der Vlugt ) and not realizing its excellent will witness talent ... "(page 19).

In order to avoid misunderstandings in the authorship, the name Leendert van der Vlugt should be listed first. The formulation for the Van Nelle Factory could be, for example, as follows:

" Leendert van der Vlugt ( and Mart Stam ) of the architectural firm Brinkman & Van der Vlugt ," or " Leendert van der Vlugt ( Brinkman & Van der Vlugt ) "

Constructivism

In the Van Nelle Factory, the influence of Russian Constructivism is palpable. From 1926-28 Mart Stam employee was on the configuration of the factory. Being a good communicator with many relationships he had come in 1922 in Berlin with the Russian avant-garde in contact. 1926, the first year of his employees at Brinkman & Van der Vlugt, he organized an architecture tour in Holland for the Russian artist El Lissitzky and his wife Sophie Küppers, the collector of contemporary art was. They visited, among others, the architects Jacobus Oud, Gerrit Rietveld and Cornelis van Eesteren. According to Sophie Küppers Mart Stam told during this trip of his factory. The large letters on the roofs, but also other parts of the factory seem to come here directly from Russian Constructivism. The constructivist aspect may be introduced by Mart Stam, the rounded architectural forms ( office buildings and round view room on the roof) by Leendert van der Vlugt.

Complications of authorship

For Mart Stam (1899-1986), the years 1926-28 were very hectic. Besides working at Leendert van der Vlugt, he was also busy with the houses of Weißenhofsiedlung in Stuttgart, with the competition of a water tower, the first cantilever chair made ​​of steel, the contacts with his Russian friends and do not forget to participation in the first CIAM Congress. Seen subsequently include the work from this time to the best of Mart Stam. One could ask the question whether the more experienced architect Leendert van der Vlugt was perhaps involved in the houses in Stuttgart. The great elegance of the houses in Stuttgart is also used in the buildings of Van der Vlugt before, but not in the later buildings of Mart Stam. This question would be justified in so far as it has placed upside down in his History of Architecture Kenneth Frampton. Perhaps many people have to be impressed by the perspective drawings of Mart Stam. Another question would be: Why did the famous Dutch Forum Group Leendert van der Vlugt not rehabilitated in the similar sense like Jan Duiker? One explanation could be that the Forum editor Jacob Bakema as the youngest member of the traditional and evolving architectural firm ( Michiel Brinkman / John Brinkman / Leendert van der Vlugt / Johannes van den Broek / Jacob Bakema ) was perhaps not interested in rehabilitation of Leendert van der Vlugt.

Buildings (selection)

  • Trade school in Groningen, 1922
  • Building of the Theosophical Association in Amsterdam, 1925-26
  • Van Nelle Factory in Rotterdam, 1927-30 ( co- Mart Stam / statics: Jan Wiebenga )
  • House van der Leeuw in Rotterdam, 1928-29
  • National telephone box, 1931
  • Boevé house in Rotterdam, 1932-34
  • Sonneveld House in Rotterdam, 1933-34
  • Residential buildings Bergpolder in Rotterdam, 1933-35 ( collaboration with Willem van Tijen )
  • Feyenoord Stadium in Rotterdam, 1935-36

Leendert van der Vlugt was responsible for the architecture of all these buildings. The residential building Bergpolder has become internationally known thanks to his personal handwriting. From 1925, the authorship can be formulated as follows: " Leendert van der Vlugt ( Brinkman & Van der Vlugt ) "

April 13 1894 April 25 Constructivist architecture Herman Hertzberger Integrated Authority File
504706
de