BB 11

"The Schröder-Schräder house was built in Utrecht in 1923-24 by the Dutch architect Gerrit Rietveld. It is a pioneering work of modernism, with no historical ornament and a design which parallels the art of Cubism and De Stijl (Piet Mondrian)."-Jeffery Howe

This building was built in the style of De Stijl or Neoplasticism, this style focuses on vertical and horizontal lines giving it more of the cubical feel to it along with only the use of contemporary colors or black and white. A great example of this style is Gerrit Rietvelds red blue chair where you can see the similarities within the style. This way of building was and still is somewhat looked at as modern in the form that it is unprecedented and so initiative in the ways that space can be used within it.

Rietveld originally wanted the building to be made of concrete but it was to expensive of a material. So it ended up being made of brick and plaster with only a few sections of it concrete, but the plaster seems to accomplish the goal that Rietveld was aiming for with the white.

I think it was so important for the designers of the twentieth century to be working so hard to be modern because with the turn of a century they believed there should be a new evolutionary movement in the design world. And in this way I believe Rietveld achieves this through designing a new style without precedent or influence of other styles.