Post Box for the Open Society
Online platform for the exchange of ideas and designs on the subject of the open society
Open: A Bakema Celebration
The Dutch entry to La Biennale di Venezia’s 14th International Architectural Exhibition
Posts
Entry: Thursday, May 28, 1964
Submitted by:
Jaap Bakema Study Centre
Country:
The Netherlands
Category:
Critique
Bakema's famous TV lecture series 'Van Stoel tot Stad' [from the chair to the city] of 1961-1962 was published as a book in 1964. It was illustrated with many sketches in Bakema's hand to explain his ideas about man and his existence in what he calls 'Total Space'. The sketches explain the principles behind the numerous projects by Bakema, especially housing projects, the way scale, space and interrelations should be considered by architects and what sort of society architects could help to create. It is also a story about a new modern identity for the Netherlands, in terms of its own identity in relation to the landscape and its polders and in relation to the larger context of post-war Europe.
One of the key statements reads: ‘What could be the architecure of an open society? Surely, at the very least the forms we build, should make clear that everybody has a right to a conception of life that is his own.’
Comments: [0]
Entry: Sunday, January 14, 1962
Title: Van Stoel tot Stad (video)
Submitted by:
Jaap Bakema Study Centre
Country:
The Netherlands
Category:
Inspiration
'Van Stoel tot Stad' [from the chair to the city] was a lectures series by Jaap Bakema broadcast on Dutch national television in 1961-1962. Standing in front of a blackboard Bakema explains his ideas about man and his existence in what he calls 'Total Space'. He speaks about his ideas for housing every citizen, building the new cities and creating a modern society. The lectures series was directed and recorded by Leen Timp for the AVRO public broadcast company.
Comments: [0]
Entry: Wednesday, May 27, 1953
Title: De Lijnbaan
Submitted by:
Jaap Bakema Study Centre
Country:
The Netherlands
Category:
Public space
The Lijnbaan opened in 1953, as the main pedestrian street in the new shopping district. It was a highly symbolical project of hope and progress, the epitome of the new, reconstructed Rotterdam after the old city centre was completely destroyed during the bombing of Rotterdam by the German Luftwaffe in May 1940. It combined the universalism of the welfare state with the new consumer culture of the post-war decades. Within CIAM circles it became a model for the idea of 'core', or the heart of the city, the 1951 theme of the CIAM congress in Hoddesdon, UK. The project was planned by the firm of Van den Broek en Bakema in close cooperation with the various shop owners and the city department of planning. To accommodate the demands of the individual shop owners a basic typology of shops was developed with a catalogue of different spatial configurations including voids and shop windows. To create a comprehensive streetscape, a rigorous facade system was developed of repetitive, concrete elements together with a continous canopy, with which all individual shops had to comply. Other street elements included kiosks, telephone booths, benches, art pieces and greenery. The highrise slabs of appartments were designed by among others Hugh Maaskant.
Comments: [46,964]
Entry: Wednesday, May 28, 1947
Submitted by:
Jaap Bakema Study Centre
Country:
The Netherlands
Category:
Housing
For the 1955 CIAM meeting in La Sarraz Jaap Bakema presented a basic grid of the elements for the new city extension of Rotterdam, Alexanderpolder, as produced by the Rotterdam CIAM group of Opbouw. In an attempt to address the general theme of Habitat, which was the key issue for CIAM in the 1950s, it presents a catalogue, that ranges from the smallest element of the single house to the largest of a slab block reminiscent of Le Corbusier's Unité d'Habitation of 1952. The various typologies accommodate families from all walks of life. Together they create a modern cityscape based on patterns of mobility and the logic of mass production in the building industry.
Comments: [3]