1888-1919

1917-1919

1924

1931

AR. GERRIT
RIETVELD

THE RED AND

BLUE CHAIR

SCHRODER
HOUSE, UTRECHT

ROW HOUSES,
UTRECHT

Gerrit Thomas Rietveld (24 June

1888 25 June 1964) was a Dutch

furniture designer and architect.
One of the principal members of
the Dutch artistic movement called
De Stijl.
Rietveld was born in Utrecht in
1888. He left school at 11 to be
apprenticed to his father and
enrolled at night school before
working as a draughtsman for C. J.
Begeer, a jeweller in Utrecht, from
1906 to 1911.
By 1917, Rietveld had taught
himself drawing, painting and
model-making.
In 1919 he became an architect.

The Rietveld Schrder House

constitutes both inside and outside
a radical break with
all architecture before it.
With primary colours, use of
planes and lines it is the most
perfect architectural example of the
'De Stijl' movement

The original chair was

constructed of unstained beech
wood and was not painted until the
early 1920s.
He built the new model of thinner
wood and painted it entirely black
with areas of primary colors
attributed to De Stijl movement.
The effect of this color scheme
made the chair seem to almost
disappear against the black walls
and floor of the Schrder
house where it was later placed.

The four houses of the threestorey row houses broaden to

form a small square.
With their precise north-south
orientation and light-yellow
faades, his four houses all feature
a projecting entrance hall with
sideways access.
A B H I S H E K

A G R A W A L

CONTEMPORARY ARCHITECTURE
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1932

1953

1955

1963

SCHOOL OF
MUSIC ZEIST

THE DUTCH
PAVILION

THE SCULPTURE
PAVILION

THE VAN GOGH

MUSEUM

In the rounded corner of this

triangular building is the director's
residence. A second residence
above the School of Music was
once reached up a stone staircase,
since replaced by a steel spiral stair.

This modernist open structure

was designed for the exhibition of
small sculptures.
It has the qualities of De Stijl
architecture.
The materials of the construction
are clearly evident: concrete block
brick, glass, and metal beams.
The open structure suggests a
relationship between nature and
the built environment.

In 1953, the Dutch government

decides to bring down the 1912
pavilion by Ferdinand Boberg and
puts Gerrit Thomas Rietveld in
charge

Rietvelds modernist vision

stressed geometric shapes and
light, open spaces.
This is particularly evident in the
staircase in the central hall.

A B H I S H E K

A G R A W A L

CONTEMPORARY ARCHITECTURE
VITS PVP COA

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