Fotograaf Michael van Oosten: Architect Berlage De Nederlanden van 1845 Den Haag

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Email: fotografie@michaelvanoosten.nl

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Large freely subdivisible halls, toplit and fully air-conditioned, flank both sides of the entrance to this office building. On the ground floor, the zone along the front facade is given over to conference rooms and the managerial suite. The concrete skeleton is visible in the facade as a framework with a brick and glass infill. Provision was made during construction for the later addition of a second floor, which duly arrived in 1954. The arrangement of windows on the ground floor bears no relationship to those

Berlage studied architecture under Gottfried Semper at the Zurich Institute of Technology during the 1870s after which he travelled extensively through Europe. In the 1880s he formed a Partnership in the Netherlands with Theodore Sanders which produced a mixture of practical and utopian projects. A published author, Berlage held memberships in various architectural societies including CIAM I.
Berlage was influenced by the Neo-Romanesque brickwork architecture of Henry Hobson Richardson and of the combination of structures of iron seen with brick of the Castle of the Three Geckos of Domènech i Montaner. This influence is visible in his design for the Amsterdam Commodities Exchange, for which he would also draw on the ideas of Viollet-le-Duc. The load-bearing bare brick walls and the notion of the primacy of space, and of walls as the creators of form, would be the constitutive principles of the 'Hollandse Zakelijkheid'. A visit Berlage made to the U.S. in 1911 greatly affected his architecture. From then on the organic architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright would be a significant influence. Lectures he gave when returned to Europe would help to disseminate Wright's thoughts in Germany.
Considered the "Father of Modern architecture" in the Netherlands and the intermediary between the Traditionalists and the Modernists, Berlage's theories inspired most Dutch architectural groups of the 1920s, including the Traditionalists, the Amsterdam School, De Stijl and the New Objectivists. He received the British RIBA Royal Gold Medal in 1932.
Berlage died at The Hague in 1934. In 1970, the IAU named the lunar crater Berlage after him.^[1] above.

Hendrik Petrus Berlage (Architect)