Beurs van Berlage
The Beurs van Berlage , a former building of the Amsterdam Stock Exchange , was built at the end of the 19th century according to the plans of the Dutch architect Hendrik Petrus Berlage . It was declared a Rijksmonument and is now mainly used for concerts, events, exhibitions and conferences.
Design history and classification
In 1884, the municipality of Amsterdam announced a competition for the construction of a stock exchange building on a plot of land that had just been drained on Damrak. The reason for this was the economic boom and the fact that Jan David Zocher's stock exchange from 1848 , which existed at the time, had become dilapidated.
Hendrik Petrus Berlage took part in the competition together with his then partner Theodore Sanders and was one of the five participants who were allowed to revise their plans for a second template. However, none of the five drafts came to fruition.
In 1894 the community had the architect Adriaan Willem Weissman (1858–1923) develop a plan for the renovation of the Zocher stock exchange. This plan served Berlage as the basis for a further draft. Due to the influence of the municipal councilor for public affairs Willem Treub, he was ultimately able to realize this design without major obstacles.
A clear stylistic classification of the stock exchange is difficult - there are characteristics of historicism and art nouveau , but the building is seen primarily as the beginning of modern construction in the Netherlands, from which the Amsterdam School , among other things, developed.
The stock exchange, which Berlage himself by no means considered his best building, developed after initial criticism ("anti-architecture", "brick shed") into a national monument, a myth that should outshine the other oeuvre of the "exchange builder".
Functions
When designing the stock exchange, Berlage focused on the idea of a building that would bring art, culture, economy and society under one roof - the purpose of the stock exchange was of course trading . The building housed the goods and grain exchange , but also a telecommunications office, a coffee house, several meeting rooms , a post office, a caretaker's apartment, a police station and a citizens' office. Later, the insurance exchange and currency trading were also housed in the premises of the commodity exchange.
When the Instituut voor Industriële Vormgeving moved into the building in 1961 , the stock exchanges began to migrate. The last thing that was stopped was options trading. In 1986 the Berlage-Börse applied for the accommodation of the Dutch Architecture Institute, which was however housed in a new building in Rotterdam. Since then, the stock exchange has been in the hands of the De Beurs van Berlage Foundation , which is located in the southern part. The northern part has been used mainly as an office building by the Dutch Philharmonic Orchestra since 1987. The former premises of the grain and stock exchange are also used as rehearsal and concert rooms.
architecture
Basics
The Amsterdam Stock Exchange illustrates Berlage's conception of contemporary architecture at the time, which should not have an effect through lavish historical decor, but through simplicity and harmonious grouping of the masses. Berlage wanted to revive the simple beauty of the brick masonry traditionally typical of the Netherlands. At the same time, this was also a political statement: in Berlage's eyes, the mighty brick walls reflect the democratic coexistence in which the individual does not achieve much - strength lies in the community. He also advocated a rational design process that starts from the internal structure of the room and makes this visible on the exterior. Berlage hoped to be able to combine practicality, economy and artistic level in this way.
Exterior construction
On the south side of the stock exchange and the design drawings made for it, it can be seen as an example that the simplicity and flatness desired by Berlage could only be achieved in the course of a gradual reduction process. At first, obviously historicistic elements were gradually simplified and reduced, protruding components increasingly integrated into the surface. The desired flatness is finally implemented so consistently, even radically, that the rain gutters represent the most significant plastic loosening of the wall surface. Wall openings appear to have been cut out of the brick, and the tower has also changed from a rather picturesque element to a large block.
The western front of the stock exchange, directly by the wide Damrak, the main train station and Dam connects, is built almost symmetrical and works with the highlighted middle part and the even rows of windows than most traditional side of the building.
The northern narrow side of the stock exchange shows most clearly Berlage's rational design practice, which progresses from the inside to the outside. Although quite short, it shows clear contrasts between high and low as well as open and closed sections. Workrooms of various widths, stairwells and heating shafts and even an open courtyard are clearly visible. The traditional idea of a uniform facade, behind which the inner spatial structure is hidden, has radically broken up here.
In the east, the outline of the building follows the course of the street in order to make optimal use of the irregularly cut property. The forced departure from the ideal of the right-angled floor plan is not obscured by Berlage. The fact that there are sometimes right-angled rooms behind the sloping wall is shown on the outside through windows of different depths.
Interior
The floor plan of the stock exchange shows that it consists of numerous smaller rooms that are grouped around three large open spaces similar to a monastery complex. The latter are not courtyards, but the halls of the securities, commodities, grain and shipping exchanges. The artistic centerpiece of the facility is the large hall of the commodity exchange, the other two stock exchange halls appear next to it as variations. In addition to the careful combination of different colors and surfaces, the severity of the exposed brick walls determines the effect of the room. Decorative details, galleries and ground floor arcades do not form any overhangs, but are completely embedded in or cut out of the wall surface. Only a few elements deviate from the general flatness. The stone supports of the iron ribs supporting the roof, whose visibility is reminiscent of contemporary industrial buildings, structure the surface. As on the exterior, the wall dimensions are the defining feature of the architecture. Nevertheless, there is a noticeable tension in the large trading hall between the closed wall and areas in which the area is being broken up.
The expectation mentioned at the beginning, generated by the floor plan, that the three stock exchange halls would be inner courtyards, deserves renewed consideration: in fact, when entering the halls through one of the gateway-like entrances, one has the feeling of stepping outside. The incidence of light from above, the treatment of the walls corresponding to the exterior structure and the sudden expansion of the space contribute to a kind of Italian piazza. Berlage creates memories of historical models without directly quoting. Rather, the historical references are highly abstracted. The plaza-like design of the stock exchange halls is less surprising than it initially seems: Berlage follows the Dutch tradition of doing business in the open air - despite the climate. The predecessor buildings of the Berlages Stock Exchange also stood for this tradition.
decoration
When designing the stock exchange, Berlage paid attention to a close interplay of decor and construction - many individual parts should interlock sensibly and result in a whole. For Berlage, decorative elements had the task of underlining the beauty and purpose of the building. You should be fully integrated into the wall surface. Following the principle of the “total work of art”, HP Berlage commissioned the poet Albert Verwey to design an iconographic program for the furnishings. Two parts were created: one tells of Amsterdam as an important trading city - the other, more important part shows a classless society in which money no longer plays a role.
Among other things, you can see:
- Outdoor statues by Gijsbrecht van Aemstel , Jan Pieterszoon Coen and Hugo de Groot, as well as keystones with images of fishing, trade and hunting by Lambertus Zijl
- Tile panels with illustrations of the past, present and future by Jan Toorop
- Decorative motifs in brick walls in the form of a tapestry
- A terracotta relief about the development of man by Lambertus Zijl
- Various verses by Albert Verwey
- Ceramic friezes on the subject of work by Jan Toorop
- Lead glazing by Antoon Derkinderen
- Equipment for the assembly rooms by Joseph Mendes da Costa
Berlage himself designed fencing, lamps and furniture for the building.
Others
In 1999 the Union Internationale des Architectes put the Berlage stock exchange on the list of the 1000 most important buildings of the 20th century.
literature
- Manfred Bock: Beginnings of a new architecture. Berlage's contribution to the architectural culture of the Netherlands in the late 19th century (= Cahiers van het Nederlands Documentatiecentrum voor de Bouwkunst. 3). Staatsuitgeverij et al., 'S-Gravenhage et al. 1983, ISBN 90-12-04217-8 (also: Berlin, Freie Universität, dissertation, 1980).
- Sergio Polano: Hendrik Petrus Berlage. Electa Architecture, Milan 2002, ISBN 1-9043-1311-6 (English).
- Pieter Singelenberg: HP Berlage. Idea and style. The Quest for Modern Architecture. Dekker & Gumbert, Utrecht 1972.
Web links
Coordinates: 52 ° 22 ′ 30 " N , 4 ° 53 ′ 47" E