The St.Benedictusberg Abbey at Vaals, the Netherlands, is a Benedictine Abbey which was built between 1921 and 1928 by the architects Dominicus Böhm & Martin Weber as a simple quadrilater with two towers marking the corners and left unfinished for several years. The new abbey church and crypt, monastery court and reception hall with consulting rooms by architect Dom. Hans van der Laan (1904-1991), finished in 1968. In 1986 followed a second extension of the monastery with a second patio, a library and a sacristy. It is a pronounced highlight in post-war Catholic architecture, without the lavish decorations that characterized Roman church building for centuries and at the same time were equally awe-inspiring and mysterious.
The architect, who was also a Benedictine monk residing in the abbey until his death in 1991, was a prolific architectural theorist whose main contribution is about the fundamental principles of architecture and the combination of spatial and philosophical concepts with practical design tools. His main invention was a proportional system called “the plastic number“, which he considered an objective response to the fundamentals of perception, space qualities and elements of structure.
The plastic number was not created to reveal any kind of “superior order of the world” and was not derived by nature; instead, it was a method which could be applied to the world, through the means of architecture, to structure our understanding of space. The plastic number is “premised upon that principle that we can understand and quantify the subjective experience of space”. Van der Laan’s built projects become testing grounds for his system: in the abbey, the plastic number defines the relationship among the single elements, the modules and correspondences within the cells, the open spaces, the heights and the openings ,right to the design of each single piece of furniture. The choice of rough and austere materials coupled with a complete lack of decoration underlines Van der Laan’s interest in an architecture completely defined by proportional rules and control of light.
"Architecture is born of this original discrepancy between the two spaces – the horizontally oriented space of our experience and the vertically oriented space of nature; it begins when we add vertical walls to the horizontal surface of the earth. Through architecture a piece of natural space is as it were set on its side so as to correspond to our experience-space. In this new space we live not so much against the earth as against the walls; our space lies not upon the earth but between walls. This space brings a completion to natural space that allows it to be brought into relation with our experience-space; at the same time it allows our specifically human space to be assimilated into the homogenous order of nature." - Hans Van der Laan.
Tags: Benedictusberg Abbey Vaals Benedictine Böhm Weber Dom. Hans van der Laan monastery patio library sacristy architectural theorist modern architecture monk plastic number plastisch getal control light proportional rules brickwork
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The St.Benedictusberg Abbey at Vaals, the Netherlands, is a Benedictine Abbey which was built between 1921 and 1928 by the architects Dominicus Böhm & Martin Weber as a simple quadrilater with two towers marking the corners and left unfinished for several years. The new abbey church and crypt, monastery court and reception hall with consulting rooms by architect Dom. Hans van der Laan (1904-1991), finished in 1968. In 1986 followed a second extension of the monastery with a second patio, a library and a sacristy. It is a pronounced highlight in post-war Catholic architecture, without the lavish decorations that characterized Roman church building for centuries and at the same time were equally awe-inspiring and mysterious.
The architect, who was also a Benedictine monk residing in the abbey until his death in 1991, was a prolific architectural theorist whose main contribution is about the fundamental principles of architecture and the combination of spatial and philosophical concepts with practical design tools. His main invention was a proportional system called “the plastic number“, which he considered an objective response to the fundamentals of perception, space qualities and elements of structure.
The plastic number was not created to reveal any kind of “superior order of the world” and was not derived by nature; instead, it was a method which could be applied to the world, through the means of architecture, to structure our understanding of space. The plastic number is “premised upon that principle that we can understand and quantify the subjective experience of space”. Van der Laan’s built projects become testing grounds for his system: in the abbey, the plastic number defines the relationship among the single elements, the modules and correspondences within the cells, the open spaces, the heights and the openings ,right to the design of each single piece of furniture. The choice of rough and austere materials coupled with a complete lack of decoration underlines Van der Laan’s interest in an architecture completely defined by proportional rules and control of light.
"Architecture is born of this original discrepancy between the two spaces – the horizontally oriented space of our experience and the vertically oriented space of nature; it begins when we add vertical walls to the horizontal surface of the earth. Through architecture a piece of natural space is as it were set on its side so as to correspond to our experience-space. In this new space we live not so much against the earth as against the walls; our space lies not upon the earth but between walls. This space brings a completion to natural space that allows it to be brought into relation with our experience-space; at the same time it allows our specifically human space to be assimilated into the homogenous order of nature." - Hans Van der Laan.
Tags: Benedictusberg Abbey Vaals Benedictine Böhm Weber Dom. Hans van der Laan monastery patio library sacristy architectural theorist modern architecture monk plastic number plastisch getal control light proportional rules brickwork
© All Rights Reserved
The St.Benedictusberg Abbey at Vaals, the Netherlands, is a Benedictine Abbey which was built between 1921 and 1928 by the architects Dominicus Böhm & Martin Weber as a simple quadrilater with two towers marking the corners and left unfinished for several years. The new abbey church and crypt, monastery court and reception hall with consulting rooms by architect Dom. Hans van der Laan (1904-1991), finished in 1968. In 1986 followed a second extension of the monastery with a second patio, a library and a sacristy. It is a pronounced highlight in post-war Catholic architecture, without the lavish decorations that characterized Roman church building for centuries and at the same time were equally awe-inspiring and mysterious.
The architect, who was also a Benedictine monk residing in the abbey until his death in 1991, was a prolific architectural theorist whose main contribution is about the fundamental principles of architecture and the combination of spatial and philosophical concepts with practical design tools. His main invention was a proportional system called “the plastic number“, which he considered an objective response to the fundamentals of perception, space qualities and elements of structure.
The plastic number was not created to reveal any kind of “superior order of the world” and was not derived by nature; instead, it was a method which could be applied to the world, through the means of architecture, to structure our understanding of space. The plastic number is “premised upon that principle that we can understand and quantify the subjective experience of space”. Van der Laan’s built projects become testing grounds for his system: in the abbey, the plastic number defines the relationship among the single elements, the modules and correspondences within the cells, the open spaces, the heights and the openings ,right to the design of each single piece of furniture. The choice of rough and austere materials coupled with a complete lack of decoration underlines Van der Laan’s interest in an architecture completely defined by proportional rules and control of light.
Tags: Benedictusberg Abbey Vaals Benedictine Böhm Weber Dom. Hans van der Laan monastery patio library sacristy architectural theorist modern architecture monk plastic number plastisch getal control light proportional rules brickwork
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Model of the Glass Palace, Heerlen, Netherlands - reconstruction by Jo Coenen & Wiel Arets
The Glass Palace / Glaspaleis is one of the most important examples of Dutch Modernism, and was designed and built by Fritz Peutz in 1935 as a department store. There was originally a supermarket in the basement, a grand entrance on the ground floor, fashion shops on several floors, a restaurant on the fifth floor, and the client’s penthouse on the top floor, overlooking this mining city in the southern part of the Netherlands. The Heerlen based architect proved to be a true innovator: he ‘packed’ his ‘stacked market’ in glass, with a large transparent glass-coated façade in fine metal profiles. The construction, visible from the outside, consists of beamless floors resting on white mushroom columns. The open and transparent Glaspaleis became the architectural eye-catcher of Heerlen
Tags: Glass Palace Glaspaleis Dutch Modernism modern architecture Fritz Peutz department store shopping mall vertical facade Heerlen reconstruction Coenen Arets music school Schunck library model
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Pavilion Château St. Gerlach estate - Mecanoo Architects - 2013-2017
Château St. Gerlach is an estate in Valkenburg near Maastricht, the Netherlands, situated in the middle of the hilly Limburg countryside: a unique complex with a luxury hotel, restaurant and spa. Mecanoo Architects designed an elegant pavilion which balances the historic buildings on the site. The pavilion completes the ensemble of the Château (1661), the St. Gerlachus Church (1727), the Farmstead (1759) and the Manor Farm (1668). The estate is now clearly visible from the public road, and has gained new significance for the village of Houthem.
“The design for the St. Gerlach Pavilion features a cantilevered roof with a beautiful curve. The materials used are inspired by the natural surroundings of Limburg: marlstone, bluestone and oak,” said Francine Houben, founding partner and creative director of Mecanoo architecten. “From the pavilion, guests will have diverse views over the château, the hills, the meadow and the manor farm.”
The three large multifunctional meeting rooms in the state of the art pavilion can be used separately or combined, offering a unique location for a variety of meetings and events. The manor farm, a national monument from 1668, has been renovated to house small meeting rooms as well as a café to have lunch or coffee. This new public function serves the local community. An intimate 'village square' between the pavilion and the manor farm can be used as an outdoor extension of the foyer.
Tags: Mecanoo pavilion Château Gerlach estate Valkenburg modern architecture wood wooden facade cantilevered roof Houben multifunctional meeting rooms manor farm café
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