Multiculturalism in Post-War architecture: Aldo van Eyck and the Otterlo Circles

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5821/ace.14.42.7033

Keywords:

Domesticity, vernacular art, house in Loenen, Team 10

Abstract

This research aims to analyse the development of a multiculturalist discourse in European post-war architecture (1950s-1960s). It focuses on the work of the Dutch architect Aldo van Eyck (1918-1999), who built his theoretical framework by merging modern architecture, pre-war avant-garde and the artistic production of non-Western cultures. The Otterlo Circles, presented by Van Eyck during the last CIAM (1959), were an attempt to synthesize a complex design methodology based on a concept of time inherited from James Joyce. After introducing the post-war architectural context of his time, we take the writings of Carola Giedion-Welcker, Van Eyck’s mentor in Zurich, as a starting point for a conceptual analysis of his essays. The three official versions of the Otterlo Circles are then presented, suggesting an unofficial fourth version: Van Eyck’s house in Loenen aan de Vecht, which will be interpreted as a Collection of experiences-objects-memories. The house and its objects will be used as an initial step to unpack how global travel and art collecting sustained a non-universalist view which gave rise to a profound reconceptualization of architecture. By using the Otterlo Circles, Van Eyck’s work appears as the result of a reconciliation of many different cultures, discovered through travels and reading. The keys to understanding his designs are to be found in his house, in the multicultural Collection of objects and strategies he used to build his personal discourse. Following this research, Van Eyck’s own house stands out as a necessary place to start any analysis of his work. This research, for the first time, attempts a conceptual explanation of the Otterlo Circles, exploring its theoretical implications for architectural design. Moreover, it develops a novel analysis of his home in Loenen, not only as an architectural project, but as a device intersecting with objects, inhabitants and spatial concepts, a holistic approach to the analysis of domesticity.

Author Biographies

Alejandro Campos Uribe, Aalto University, Finland

Architect (2013) and phD (2018) from the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Spain. In 2018 he finished his phD in Architecture, Building, Urbanism and Landscape. He worked as a Predoctotal Fellow, thanks to an scholarship by the Spanish Ministry of Education in a nationwide competitive process. His research has focused in postwar architecture, more concretely in Aldo van Eyck's work and particularly his own house in Loenen aan de Vecht, an unpublished project. Cataloguing and documenting the house has been an opportunity to understand Van Eyck’s holistic approach to architecture. Since 2018, he is a Postdoctoral Researcher of Emergent Design Methodologies at Aalto University, Finland. He has published several papers in peer review journals or international conference proceedings regarding Van Eyck's work: "How to draw Aldo van Eyck's house in Loenen", "Hassan Fathy, Aldo van Eyck and Bernard Rudofsky Drawing Architecture", "A Photographic Reconstruction of Aldo van Eyck’s Own House: Fragment and Collage", etc. He has been selected for the II Research Display of the XIV Spanish Architecture Biennial. In 2018, his thesis was awarded (honorary mention) in the Simon Architecture Prize by the Mies van der Rohe Foundation.

María de Miguel Pastor, Polytechnic University of Valencia

Architect by the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV, 2013) and the University of Ghent (UGent). Master`s Degree in Architectural Design by the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC, 2015). Awarded with a Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports Collaborative Grant in the Architectural Design Department of the UPC (2015). Awarded with a Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports Doctoral Research Grant (FPU) at the Design Studio Department of the UPV (2017). Currently Ph.D. student at the Architectural Design Department of the UPV, Design Studio Teaching Assistant of the aforementioned department since 2017 and member of the Research Group PAR (Proyecto y Arquitectura).

Paula Lacomba Montes, Polytechnic University of Valencia

She is an architect (Polytechnical University of Valencia, 2014) and a Predoctoral Fellow at its Department of Architecture. Her research (PhD) focuses in educational architecture, particularly English Post-War schools. She was visiting researcher and lectured in Cambridge University (Catherine Burke’s supervision), and Affiliate Academic at The Bartlett School of Architecture (supervisor: Andrew Saint).

Jordi Martínez Ventura, Polytechnic University of Valencia

Master in Architecture by the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), Spain. Nowadays, a predoctoral fellow at the Department of Architectural at this university. He is developing the doctoral research Architectural education facing the future of the discipline: Level of competencies for sustainable development of the students from the Master's degree in Architecture in Spain, contribution to its development and characteristics of the Bachelor's degree in Architecture. He has worked as an architect at Carlos Ferrater office of architecture (Barcelona, Spain) and, between 2009 and 2016, at Fran Silvestre Arquitectos (Valencia, Spain). As part of his work at Fran Silvestre Arquitectos, he has been an associate lecturer and coordinator of the Master's degree MArch. Architecture, Design and Innovation from the Universidad Europea de Valencia. Additionally, he has taught design studio as an associate or guest lecturer in this university and others, such as CEDIM (Monterrey, Mexico) or Aalto University (Helsinki, Finland), where he had a visiting researcher position in 2019.

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Published

2020-02-29

Issue

Year 14, issue 42 (Feb. 2020)

Section

Article's section

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