A reflection on the interior plan of social housing through Dutch expressionist architecture: "Het Schip" by Michel de Klerk.

Year 2024, Volume: 3 Issue: 2, 1 - 19, 25.05.2024

Merve Tatlı

Abstract

Shaping human existence as an art, for all classes of society, such could be the characterization of the expressive design movement in The Netherlands (Koers, 2018, p. 11). The first signs of architectural expressionism in the Netherlands can be traced back to the early 1910s but it became only fashionable after 1918. In the 1920s and 1930s, many architects adopted an expressive vocabulary with an emphasis on sculptural shapes and the texture of the materials (Mager, 2022).
Everything requiring form, such as exterior and interior architecture, furniture, jewelry, glasswork, typography, or dance and music, was approached as art. These designer-artists found themselves in the midst of a society that underwent enormous modernization (Koers, 2018, p. 11).
Art and architecture also reacted to mass production and migration to the cities. Influenced by the English Arts and Crafts movement, the vocations of skilled craftsmen were once again appreciated. A new respect grew for the old, rural culture and the decorative arts from other cultures. Full of ideals, people focused on a better future (Roegholt, 2018, p.7).
Michel de Klerk was strongly influenced by these developments. He traveled to London, Germany, and Scandinavia and was bewildered by their building traditions. He recorded that in many drawings. Frequent are the references in his work to what he had experienced (Roegholt, 2018, p.7). Michel de Klerk’s architecture was primarily constructed of brick using traditional construction methods. His mature work did not find any reference in history, although his influences included English Arts and Crafts, Scandinavian vernacular, and local Dutch models (de Wit, 1983, p.41). In addition to his concern for composition, Wim de Wit writes that: De Klerk’s work shows a search for an organically suggestive expression of life (de Wit, 1983, p. 41). This expression was constructed with mass rather than planes and evoked a picturesque aesthetic (Smith, 2005, p. 147; Frank, 1984).
Michel de Klerk, sometimes referred to as the Rembrandt of architecture, was an artist of many talents. To him, the exterior and the interior of a building were equally important. He toyed with shapes, not only as an architect but also as a draughtsman and furniture designer. (Roegholt et al., 2012)
Het Schip (by Michel de Klerk) in the Amsterdam Spaarndammerbuurt neighborhood marks the high point of social housing in the Netherlands. Here, workers were not only provided with good quality accommodation, but they were also given a beautiful home. Characterized by unusual brick bonds and richly decorated with works of art (Roegholt et al., 2012).
In the mid-nineteenth century, overpopulation in cities made it clear that many working-class homes were unsuitable for living. The living conditions of workers and those without means kept deteriorating, and the various philanthropic institutions could not keep up with the onrush of the needy (Diemen, 2018, p.59). This essay is an analysis of the many layers of significance of the social housing architecture in the Netherlands by examining Michel de Klerk’s urban block ‘Het Schip’, in the ’Spaarndammerbuurt’ neighborhood in Amsterdam. The importance of an artistic principle in the design of working class housing; How did Michel de Klerk by using his own expressionist style improve the lives of social housing residents in the interior of his master building 'Het Schip' and what kind of indoor-outdoor experiences did he offer them. To what extent could the style of the Amsterdam School be used in the interior plan of social housing projects to improve the overall well-being of social economic lower class families.
The complex was a response to the dreadful housing conditions in the nineteenth-century Netherlands when factories were built in the cities at a high rate. To achieve maximum output, they needed many workers. Many of them arrived from the rural countryside, where life was unpredictable – a bad summer called for no harvest. The factory seemed to preclude chance. Every day one went to work. Everyday production occurred according to a fixed plan. The rural communities died. Windmills disappeared, as did farms with their barns and haystacks. The country was changing. It was time for a goodbye. Goodbye to rural life (Roegholt, 2018, p.7). However, work in the factories was hard and there was a shortage of decent homes. Many had to live in slums, hovels, and sometimes in cellars, half underground, with prevalent diseases and sickness. The 1901 Housing Act attempted to address this and enabled housing associations to build good homes in great numbers. Government loans financed the efforts of these self-organizing cooperatives (Roegholt, 2018, p.7).

Keywords

social housing, expressionist architecture, Dutch expressionist architecture, the Amsterdam School, Michel de Klerk

Supporting Institution

University of Groningen

Thanks

B.T. (Tino) Mager, Dr Assistant Professor History and Theory of Architecture and Urbanism

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