The Constructed Instant: Gerrit Rietveld's Forgotten Sonsbeek Pavilion of 1958

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5821/ace.18.52.11919

Keywords:

neoplasticism, exhibition architecture, open concept, De stijl

Abstract

To innovate in the design and construction of contemporary architecture requires elaborating on knowledge of key architects and their evolution through their works. Rietveld designed the pavilion for the Fourth International Architecture Exhibition, held in 1958 in Sonsbeek Park, by reusing two existing sheds. The unpublished documents for this pavilion have been located at the Het Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam, Rietveld, G.Th. (Gerrit Thomas) / Archieve. The aim of this article is to make known this project and situate it in the series of international sculpture exhibitions held in Sonsbeek, contribute to complete the knowledge of Rietveld's architectural production, and delve into the compositional and constructive processes of the exhibition architectures he designed. The research method used starts from original documents to produce drawings that facilitate the interpretation of the 1958 pavilion, relate them to Rietveld's essential formative principles and evaluate the contributions of this work by comparing it with other exhibition architectures. Although the concepts applied to the design of the Sonsbeek'58 pavilion are the development of previous findings, on this occasion Rietveld managed to create an architectural syntax that made the three dimensions of Cartesian space visible, revealing the special importance of geometry, modulation, and the constructive condition of each element.

Author Biographies

Amadeo Ramos-Carranza, University of Seville

Architect (1989) and doctor in architecture (2006) from the University of Seville (qualified holder by ANECA). Professor of the Department of Architectural Graphic Expression (1990–95); since 1996, from the Department of Architectural Projects, ETSA Sevilla. He belongs to the Research Group HUM-632 "project, progress, architecture". Director of exhibitions and catalogs “Architecture of Rationalism in Seville: Beginnings and Continuities” and “Seville 1995–2005. Architecture of a decade” (2003 and 2006, in collaboration). Coordinator of the Seminar and of the book “Building London. Drawing Europe” (2006). Co-director of the International Seminar and co-author of "Architecture and construction: landscape as an argument" (2007 and 2009). Director of project, progress, architecture (PpA) magazine since 2010: Articles: “Langham House Close. Group housing on Ham Common. James Stirling and James Gowan, 1995–58” (2006); "Active structures" (COAM Magazine, 2008); “Profession vs Research (with some references to project teaching)” (ARTiTEXTOS Magazine, Lisbon 2008); Several articles in Iberian DOCOMOMO registry catalogues. 1925–1965 (2009-2011) and in PpA magazine (2010-2015).

Rosa María Añón-Abajas, University of Seville

Architect from the University of Seville in 1988, PhD in 2001. She is a University Professor in the Department of Architectural Projects; She teaches undergraduate, master's and doctoral programs. She is the author of "Architecture of the municipal primary schools of the Seville city council until 1937", (Universidad de Sevilla, 2005); co-author of "Architecture and construction: the landscape as an argument" (UNIA 2007); In addition to other books and chapters, she has published articles in Cabás magazines, (nº13, 2015); VLC Architecture, (vol. 6, no. 1, 2019); Artigram, (No. 34, 2019); Sustainability, (vol. 13, no. 16, 2021). Project, progress, architecture, (No. 1 and No. 2, 2010; No. 5, 2011; No. 9, 2013; No. 10, 2014; No. 12, 2015; No. 17, 2017; No. 18, 2018; No. 20, 2019; No. 23, 2020; No. 24, 2021).

Gloria Rivero-Lamela, University of Seville

Architect (2014), Master in Architecture and Historical Heritage (2016) and PhD in Architecture (2020) from the University of Seville. Extraordinary End of Studies Award and Royal Maestranza de Caballería de Sevilla Award (2015). She has carried out research stays at the TU-Delft (2018) and at the Universidade do Porto (2019). She has been hired as a PIF predoctoral fellow at the Department of Architectural Projects of the University of Seville (2016-2020), combining research and teaching. She belongs to the HUM-632 Research Group. She has published in magazines such as PpA (2017), Ge-Conservación, Estoa (2018), Disegnarecon (2019), Sustainability, SPOOL (2020). She received the First Prize for the best research project, triennium 2015-2016-2017, awarded in 2018 by the Industrial Heritage Foundation of Andalusia, and the second Young Researcher in Conservation and Restoration 2018 prize, awarded by the Spanish Conservation Group.

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Published

2023-06-30

Issue

Year 18, issue 52 (Jun. 2023)

Section

Article's section

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