De Stijl

Dutch artistic movement founded in 1917 in Amsterdam.

De Stijl advocated pure abstraction and universality by a
reduction to the essentials of form and colour; they
simplified visual compositions to vertical and horizontal,
using only black, white and primary colors.
The De Stijl movement posited the fundamental principle
of the geometry of the straight line, the square, and the
rectangle, combined with a strong asymmetricality
their formal vocabulary was limited to the primary colours
,red, yellow, and blue, and the three primary
values, black, white, and grey.
The works avoided symmetry and attained aesthetic
balance by the use of opposition.
Influence on architecture

This element of the movement embodies the second

meaning of stijl: "a post, jamb or support"; this is best
exemplified by the construction of crossing joints, most
commonly seen in carpentry.
each element to exist independently and unobstructed by
other elements.
This feature can be found in the Rietveld Schrder
House and the Red and Blue Chair.
Mies van der Rohe was among the most important
proponents of its ideas.
Between 1923 and 1924, Rietveld designed the Rietveld
Schrder House, the only building to have been created
completely according to De Stijl principles.
 Red and Blue Chair

Red and Blue Chair designed by Gerrit Rietveld in 1917.

 chair - constructed of unstained beech wood
not painted until the early 1920s.
Bart van der Leck - suggested that he add bright
colours.
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.
color appeared to float, giving it an almost
transparent structure.
 Rietveld Schrder House

in Utrecht was built in 1924 by Dutch architect Gerrit

Rietveld for Mrs. Truus Schrder-Schrder and her three
children.
preferably without walls.
Rietveld worked with Schrder-Schrder
create a connection between the inside and outside.
example of De Stijl-architecture
now is a museum open for visits, run by the Centraal
Museum.
UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2000.
 Architecture

constitutes both inside and outside a radical break with

all architecture before it.
The two-story house - no attempt to relate to its
neighbouring
Inside there is no static accumulation of rooms, but a
dynamic, changeable open zone.
ground floor - ranged around a central staircase are
kitchen and three bedrooms.
Mrs Schrder - felt that as living space it should be
usable in either form, open or subdivided.
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 a wide variety of
possible permutations, each providing its own spatial
experience.
The facades are a collage of planes and lines
enabled the provision of several balconies.
surfaces in white and shades of grey, black window and
doorframes, and a number of linear elements in primary
colours.
 Construction

Initially - house out of concrete.

The foundations and the balconies were the only
parts of the building that were made out of
concrete.
The walls were made of brick and plaster.
window frames and doors - wood as well as the
floors supported by wooden beams.
To support the building, steel girders with wire
mesh were used.