THEORY OF ARCHITECTURE

GERRIT RIETVELD

Introduction• Name – Gerard(Gerrit) Thomas Rietveld or Gerrit Rietveld• Born – 24 June 1888-1964• Place- Utrecht, Netherlands• Famous as – Furniture Designer and Architect• He was one of the most important designers and architects of

the 20th century.• Rietveld taught himself Drawing, Painting and model making.• At a point of time he also became a furniture maker.• He became an architect in 1919,the year in which he joined

De Stijl movement.

IDEOLOGY OF GERRIT RIETVELD• His ideology was clearly seen in his work, what he wanted to

convey to the world and other architects and designers. • Rietveld aimed for simplicity in his furniture and all the

construction work that he did in his life time. • All the work that he did he emphasized on using primary

colors(Red, Blue and Yellow) and grey & black color.• He also tried to work towards Inexpensive construction and

production methods, new materials, prefabrication technique and standardization.

• In 1930s he started working with prefabricated concrete slabs which was very unusual at that time

• From 1920s he was concerned with social housing and the result was seen in 1950s in his housing projects in Utrecht and Reeuwijk.

Contribution to the Art World• He was One of the principle members of dutch artistic

movement called De Stijl along with Theo van Doesburg and Piet Mondrian in 1919.

• Rietveld famous furniture – Red and Blue chair– Zig-Zag Chair

RED AND BLUE CHAIR

DE STIJL PAINTING

ZIG-ZAG CHAIR

• Famous Buildings– The row houses at Utrecht– The Dutch pavilion– The sculptor pavilion in the Rijksmuseum Kroller muller – Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam– Rietveld’s Schroder House – Muziekschool, Zeist– Play media

Van Gogh’s Museum

Schröder House• The Rietveld Schröder House in

Utrecht was commissioned by Ms. Truus Schröder-Schräder, It was built in 1924.

• It was a manifesto of the ideals of the De Stijl group of artists and architects in the Netherlands in 1920s.

• The Schröder House is a UNESCO world heritage site.

• It differs from other significant buildings of the early modern movement, such as the Villa Savoye by Le Corbusier or the Villa Tugendhat by Mies van der Rohe.

About Schröder House’s Architecture• Compositions generally

emphasize the separation of planes, the application of primary colors, and the spatial relationship of solids to voids.

• Window sizes vary on an individual building from large to small. They may be arranged in patterns or one unit on a large wall.

• Flat roof, asymmetry, geometric forms, white or gray walls with details highlighted by primary colors.

• Rectangular shapes define the geometric repetition of windows, doors, and blocks of color.

• Flat roofs are typical, and distinctly different from other structures.

• The two story house is situated at the end off the street but does not relate with its neighboring buildings.

• The difference lies in particular in the treatment of architectural space and in the conception of the functions of the building.

• In the interior also only primary colors i.e. red, blue and yellow were used and grey color.

Van Gogh Museum• The Van Gogh Museum is an art museum in Amsterdam in the

Netherlands.• This museum features the work of Dutch artist Vincent Van

Gogh and his contemporaries. • The museum buildings were designed by Gerrit

Rietveld and Kisho Kurokaw.

• The Rietveld building is the main structure of the museum and exhibits the permanent collection.

• The building has a rectangular floor plan and is four stories high.

Red and Blue Chair

• The chair was designed in 1917.

• This chair was one of the major examples in promoting in De Stijl movement.

Zig-Zag Chair