Rietveld Schröder House

Infobox World Heritage Site
Name = Rietveld Schröderhuis (Rietveld Schröder House)


imagecaption= The exterior of the Rietveld Schröder House
State_Party = NED
Type = Cultural
Criteria = I, II
ID = 965
Link = http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/965
Region = Europe and North America
Coordinates = coord|52|5|7|N|5|8|50|E
Year = 2 December 2000
Session = 24th

The Rietveld Schröder House (Dutch: "Rietveld Schröderhuis") (also known as the "Schröder House") in Utrecht was built in 1924 by Dutch architect Gerrit Rietveld for Mrs. Truus Schröder-Schräder and her three children. She commissioned the house to be designed preferably without walls. The house is one of the best known examples of "De Stijl"-architecture and arguably the only true "De Stijl" building. Mrs. Schröder lived in the house until her death in 1985. The house was restored by Bertus Mulder and now is a museum open for visits. In the year 2000 it was placed on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. [cite web
title = Rietveld Schröderhuis (Rietveld Schröder House)
work = World Heritage Centre
publisher = UNESCO
url = http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/965/
accessdate = 2007-05-06 ]

Architecture

The Rietveld Schröder House constitutes both inside and outside a radical break with all architecture before it. The two-story house is built onto the end of a terrace, but it makes no attempt to relate to its neighbouring buildings.

Inside there is no static accumulation of rooms, but a dynamic, changeable open zone. The ground floor can still be termed traditional; ranged around a central staircase are kitchen and three sit/bedrooms. The living area upstairs, given as an attic to satisfy the planning authorities, in fact forms a large open zone except for a separate toilet and a bathroom. Rietveld wanted to leave the upper level as was. Mrs Schröder, however, felt that as living space it should be usable in either form, open or subdivided. This was achieved with a system of sliding and revolving panels. When entirely partitioned in, the living level comprises three bedrooms, bathroom and living room. In-between this and the open state is an endless series of permutations, each providing its own spatial experience.

The facades are a collage of planes and lines whose components are purposely detached from, and seem to glide past, one another. This enabled the provision of several balconies. Like Rietveld's Red and Blue Chair, each component has its own form, position and color. Colors where chosen as to strengthen the plasticity of the facades; surfaces in white and shades of grey, black window and doorframes, and a number of linear elements in primary colors.

The house is situated in Utrecht in between ordinary terraced houses and along a motorway that was built in the 1960s.

World Heritage Site

The World Heritage Committee inscribed the Rietveld Schröder House on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites on 2 December 2000, during the 24th session in Cairns, Australia. The committee decided to apply criterion i and ii, and said about the house: [cite web
title = Nomination file
work = World Heritage Centre
publisher = UNESCO
url = http://whc.unesco.org/p_dynamic/sites/passfile.cfm?filename=965&filetype=pdf&category=nominations
format = PDF
accessdate = 2008-05-06 ] quote|The Rietveld Schröderhuis in Utrecht is an icon of the Modern Movement in architecture and an outstanding expression of human creative genius in its purity of ideas and concepts as developed by the "De Stijl" movement. (...) With its radical approach to design and the use of space, the Rietveld Schröderhuis occupies a seminal position in the development of architecture in the modern age.

References

External links

* [http://www.rietveldschroderhuis.nl Rietveld Schröder House]
* [http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/965 Rietveld Schröder House] at the UNESCO World Heritage Centre
* [http://www.centraalmuseum.nl/page.ocl?pageid=85 Rietveld Schröderhuis] at the Centraal Museum Utrecht
* [http://www.roland-collection.com/rolandcollection/section/17/502B.htm Video tour of Schroder House]
* [http://www.galinsky.com/buildings/schroder/index.htm Galinsky page, with photos]