Aldo van Eyck Overview

The Dutch architect Aldo van Eyck, a member of the loosely associated Team X, was deeply concerned with the spiritual vacuity of most modern architecture. Dismayed at Rotterdam's development since World War II, van Eyck was convinced that such industrial designs... [more]

The Dutch architect Aldo van Eyck, a member of the loosely associated Team X, was deeply concerned with the spiritual vacuity of most modern architecture. Dismayed at Rotterdam's development since World War II, van Eyck was convinced that such industrial designs caused alienation and psychological distress. In response, he attempted to create an architecture that could help the people of his age "tackle the human problems posed by the period, as well as those which, from period to period, remain the same." Van Eyck practiced what can be called a mystical architecture, in which architectural forms had archetypal meaning. In his search for architectural meaning, van Eyck studied linguistic anthropology and the mud communities of the sub-Saharan Dogon people. He saw important, applicable meaning in the patterns of languages and structures, and imported them into his work. We can see van Eyck's philosophy at work in the design of his Amsterdam orphanage. Using his concept of "labyrinthine clarity," van Eyck created a web-like structure of small pavilions, each looking into a private courtyard. William Curtis associates van Eyck's designs with the paintings of Piet Mondrian, whose lattice-like works evoke subtle yet varying patterns in the mind of the observer. Aldo van Eyck strove to create an architecture of similarity and pattern, but one that was loose enough to allow for individual expression. He felt that variations in similarity produced more potential for variation in meaning than the alien, outstanding structures more typical of modern architecture. [show less]