J. J. P. Oud

The Dutch architects

Jacobus Johannes Pieter Oud

One of the main architects of De Stijl was J. J. P. Oud. He was very important for the modern architecture, but also he was the first one who left this movement. Because of his abandoning of De Stijl, other countries weren’t interested in his work anymore. In The Netherlands his work still appeals and he got many assignments in the architecture.

Oud actually wanted to be a painter, but his father insistence that he would become an architect. He was educated to follow the old system of architecture, but beside that he learned the modern way of architecture. He started as an architect of residential houses, but when he saw the work of the American architects Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright he moved to Leiden to become an independent architect. He met a lot of new people like Onnes and Dudok and became very interested in the Arts and Craft movement. Not much later he got a new interest: the consistent theory of architecture. So he joined De Stijl.

Oud was known for these buildings:

Café De Unie

           It was built in 1925 as padding for empty space. This is one of the buildings where you can see that Oud was a member of De Stijl, because of the primary colours and geometric figures. It was destroyed by the bombardment of Rotterdam during WWII. In 1986 they rebuild the building and it’s now used as a debating place for the Council of Art and Culture of Rotterdam.

 

National Monument De Dam

When WWII was ended, two former soldiers of the Dutch army went to the government with a proposal of building a national monument. In 1951 Oud and the statue maker Johannes Anton Rädecker they could start to make the project. In 1965 and 1998, the monument was restored.

The housing Kiefhoek

      Kiefhoek was one of the projects that were mending to make the living conditions of the lower class more reasonable.