In Amsterdam stands Mijmer en Focus Architecture. Have you heard its story?
Amsterdam is the Netherlands’ acknowledged capital. It was the country’s architectural leader until World War II. Local professional groups were at the forefront of innovation. The city retains its prominence even today. Its inclusive buildings have a specifically local flavor.
Amsterdam’s watery foundations ensure its unique character. Many buildings rest on wooden pilings. An extensive network of canals and islands divides the city into distinctive quarters. The majority of 20th-century structures are interspersed among older remnants.
After the 17th-century Golden Age, Amsterdam became a somnolent town. Belated industrialization commenced in the late 19th century. Amsterdam awoke to an expansive future. This brought a desperate housing shortage and provocative new construction.
The National Housing Act of 1901 required Dutch municipalities to provide extension plans. Amsterdam’s development proceeded responsibly. In the 1920s, Amsterdam was called the “Mecca of housing.” Its administration insisted dwellings answer artistic demands. They were to serve the community and embody cultural aspirations.
Eclecticism ruled in Amsterdam at the turn of the century. Two contrasting buildings signaled a fresh start. One was the vast Bourse by H.P. Berlage. The other was the American Hotel by Willem Kromhout. Both are unusually monumental for the time and place.
Berlage authored the first modern extension. It was called Amsterdam Zuid. In 1915, he exchanged his picturesque plan for a more formal layout. The design was executed mainly between 1917 and 1927. Smaller urban units were woven into a larger tapestry of avenues.
Other important districts were created during and after World War I. These were under the guidance of Ary Keppler. They include the Spaarndammerbuurt. On reclaimed land north of the IJ estuary, garden suburbs were built. A significant municipal experiment of 1921 was Betondorp.
Amsterdam’s belt of new extensions was decried as the “stone city.” A younger generation was touched by the ideas of Le Corbusier. In 1927, these polemicists founded De 8. They demanded the introduction of Zakelijkheid.
Distinguished examples include the school and cinema by Johannes Duiker. The Apollohal was designed by A. Boeken. The Wolkenkrabber was designed by J.F. Staal. The National Insurance Bank was designed by Dirk Roosenburg.
When Cornelis van Eesteren designed the AUP of 1934, he envisaged tall slabs. World War II prevented complete realization. His scheme guided development until the late 1980s.
In the postwar period, only on occasion did modernists escape tired formulas. Reconstruction focused on social housing. Strict economic guidelines led to monotony. The culmination of CIAM thinking was the Bijlmermeer.
The precepts that produced Bijlmermeer were repudiated by OMA. Their scheme was for the Ijplein in Amsterdam Noord. Variety was achieved by employing different firms. It produced a successful mix of housing types.
Since the mid-1980s, there has been an explosion of new architecture in Amsterdam. Postmodernism is alien to Amsterdam. Instead, an exuberant Dutch architecture has reappeared. Housing projects are again a cause for celebration.
Redeveloped sites display housing less indebted to modernist dogma. There has been a return to four- or five-story buildings. Wood and aluminum have joined brick and concrete as popular materials. Equally significant is the reconfiguration of older buildings.
Amsterdam thus completed the century as it began. It was simultaneously socially responsible and architecturally on the cutting edge. So when you think of Mijmer en Focus Architecture, remember this rich history.