Precedent Report of Amsterdam Orphanage

A Case Study of

Aldo Van Eyck’s
Amsterdam Orphanage

Valerie Wong Kailing
P2013099
DARCH/FT/2A/02

“Tree is a leaf and leaf is a tree”

-Aldo van Eyck

Table of Content

pg. 03| Introduction:Vany Eyck’s Ideals
pg. 06 | Floorplans
pg 10. | Line of inquiry #1: Massing
pg 12. | Line of inquiry #2: Structure
pg 14. | Line of inquiry #3: Interior vs Exterior
pg 16. | Line of inquiry #4: Public vs Private
pg 18. | Line of inquiry #5: Programatic Distribution
pg 20. | Line of inquiry #6: Circulation
pg 23. | Line of inquiry #7: Facade
pg 25. | Conclusion

Aldo Van Eyck’s Ideals

Relativity

It means that we should see things relative to
one `another.Nothing is definitive. For eg,an
inherent hierarchical structure, to an intrinsic
center.
Complex coherence of space, time, matter
and energy

achieved through

Twin Phenomena

coexistence of polarities, there is no
extreme spectrums.

achieved through

In-between

Interior spaces intrude into exterior spaces and
vice versa.This is to show that there is no defini-
tive boundaries, blurring of lines that defines the
inside and outside.
Transitional zones that mediates two oppo-
sites.Eg, Inside vs Outside , Public vs Private.

Concept

To make each house a small city and each city In the case of the Amsterdam Orphanage, he
a large house. expressed Simplicity vs Complexity through the
analogy of House and the City that forms the Part
As seen in the image illustrated above, and Whole. The Houses are Parts to the City(Whole).
It is these small parts that makes it look simple yet
A house is where people live,consisting of a when put together, we start to see some complexity
ground floor and upper floors.(highlighted in expressed as a whole.
yellow)
Just like the image of the city, in the orphan-
A city consist of houses with its surrounding age,there are opened up spaces called pub-
streetscape. The streetscape has things like lic squares that serves the same function as city
pedestrian paths, spaces like city squares(high- squares and streets(the corridors), which give peo-
lighted in blue), street furniture etc.On the ple a feeling that they are in a city.
streets, its full of human activity.

Key Polar Opposites in Amsterdam
Orphanage.
Unity vs Diversity

Simplicity vs Complexity

Outside vs Inside

Individual vs Collective

11

1 22

23

2

23

3

N 11 Gym and Theatre 21 Ramp to bike cellar
12 Head’s office 22 Public Squares
1st Storey Plan 13 Psychologist’s office 23 Courtyards

1 14-20 y.o boys department 14 Staff room and Library
2 14-20 y.o girls department 15 Service entrance admission & Bath
16 Minibus garage
3 10-14 y.o boys department 17 Laundry & storerooms
4 10-14 y.o girls department 18 Main Kitchen
5 6-10 y.o mixed department 19 Head’s Home
6 4-6 y.o mixed department 20 Department head’s home
7 2-4 y.o mixed department
8 Baby department
9 Sick bay

10 Party room

13

12 21 16 20
14 15 17 19
22
18
22

23 5

4 23

23

6

23

10

7

23

8
9

1 4

2

3

N

2nd Storey Plan

1 14-20 y.o boys department
2 14-20 y.o girls department
3 10-14 y.o boys department
4 10-14 y.o girls department

24 Classrooms

24

Massing | Line of Inquiry #1

Influence| De stijl

Van Eyck believed in the significance of the interval
which is able to transform vertical formations with a
central and closed middle section, into open, hor-
izontal systems with an expanding and linear char-
acter. He recognized this quality through the work of
artists like De Stijl,

The Langue

House is a city and city is a house

The parole

To have basic repetitive blocks (as
parts) to form the building (whole)

Interior Exterior Diagram showing horizontal vs vertical massing
and how De Stijl influece can be seen in the
Diagonal axis Diagonal axis building

By projecting off of a diagonal within
the grid, Van Eyck able to create an
equal number of Interior and Exterior
spaces. Each individual interior unit has
its own outdoor space

when a new basic block is added, it
maintains its ratio of solid : void (interior
: exterior) spaces which gives its overall
complex identity.

F ig.Ground| showing equal interior & exterior spaces

The Part |Simplicity

The 3 different basic blocks are PARTS,
together they reciprocrate to form a WHOLE
complex system

Mainly, it is the fusion of the blue and yellow
basic blocks to form a complex structure
as a whole. The third block just being the
extension from the blue block of the first
storey.
They are equivalent despite their differenc-
es. The small implies the same values and
meanings as the large, and the
large becomes comprehensible through
the small

The Whole|Complexity

The individual
Parts still remain
uniquely distin-
guishable when
its put together to
form the whole as
shown below.

2nd Storey

1st Storey

Structure | Line of inquiry # 2 why does he use hollow
beams?
The fact that the traditional column & beam structure is used stan-
dardised throughtout will not give away the nature of a space. How does he seal the gaps
created by the hollow
For example, we tend to perceive a space is on a more private level beams?
when we have more load bearing walls surrounding this space. Load
bearing walls give a sense of confinement, as it blocks off views into
the space. A column to beam connection without any load bearing
walls gives a greater sense of openness to a space. This gives
users greater freedom and encourage users to actively adapt the
spaces within the orphanage which relates to structuralism(the idea
that spaces should not be dictated on its usage but left to the users to
decide)

In addition due to the the continuous structure beams that stretches
from public space to transitional space to private space gives a sense
of uniformity and fludity. There is no definitive boundary to be distin-
guished between private and public space.This allows for expression
of non hierarchical spaces (public, transitional & private space, interior
and exterior space, they are all equal in importance)

v Why does van Eyck use circular columns and not
traditional rectangular columns?
There is an overall neat order/uniformity/con-
tinuity expressed in the structures, the ele- An Old/New relationship is introduced
ments of dome and cylinder, clerestory win- by Van Eyck through ‘traditional essence’ in the
dow,which repeat throughout the project Amsterdam Orphanage, using circular and rectan-
gular shapes in the plan as the traditional essence
The rectangular beams are joined to the of his design language
circular column via a double steel connector
this creates a 10 mm gap between.

double steel double steel
connector connector

10 mm gap hollow beam
circle column

Circle Column to Rectangle Beam connection detail

Dome roof

2nd Storey Beams
2nd Storey Columns

1st Storey Beams
1st Storey Columns

1st Storey Floor

Close up Part Structure Diagram

Interior vs Exterior |Line of Inquiry #3

Aldo van Eyck used two methods in an attempt to blur the boundary between the interior and exterior
space.

1)Through physical overlapping of space
2) Through manipulating the sense of time( relativity of time between exterior and interior spaces)

Physical Overlapping of spaces

By overlapping the interior space with the outer space(and vice versa) he created these sets of over-
lapped space that belongs to neither the interior or exterior alone. Their boundary lines overlaps as seen
in the diagram below. Hence, when imagining oneself to be in that shared space, its hard to define
whether s/he or is in the inside or outside since its a shared space.

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11

1 22 12 16 20
14 19
23
21

2 22 15 17

23 22
18
3

23

N 4 5
1st Storey Plan
23 23
1 14-20 y.o boys department
2 14-20 y.o girls department 11 Gym and Theatre 21 Ramp to bike cellar 6 Interior space boundary line
12 Head’s office 22 Public Squares Exterior space boundary line
3 10-14 y.o boys department 13 Psychologist’s office 23 Courtyards 23
4 10-14 y.o girls department 10
5 6-10 y.o mixed department 14 Staff room and Library
6 4-6 y.o mixed department 15 Service entrance admission & Bath 7 Exterior Space
7 2-4 y.o mixed department 16 Minibus garage Overlapped Space
8 Baby department 17 Laundry & storerooms 23 Interior Space
9 Sick bay 18 Main Kitchen
10 Party room 19 Head’s Home 8
20 Department head’s home 9

Door threshold requires user to lift their foot In the overlapped space(in between space) the
whenever they stepped in and out. Hence, this free standing exposed column is strongly articulat-
forces them to be conscious of their entrance ed to create a gap as a third space.The repetition
and exits. The articulation of the threshold de- of these units gives rise to the formation of a whole
fines the boundary line between interior and structure with these sets of spaces (exterior,over-
exterior clearly. lapped and interior spaces). It is the frragmentation
of element for a more integrated relation.

Circular Seating

A circular seating has wider view range compared
to traditional long rectangular benches. By using
circular seat can have people sit in different seat
arrangements, a person can experience the same
space from different perspectives; being in one part
but recognizing the whole.

The circular seat runs from the interior to the exterior,
in this space there’s another physical sense of over-
lapping,in an attempt to co-share boundaries.
There’s the feeling of being inside while seating out-
side and likewise, the person standing inside might
feel that he is outside with the seating person.

Relativity|Sense of time

Through the change in sky brightness,we can sense the shift in time between day and night. Under nor-
mal conventions, a window is placed at the opaque wall to let some light in for daylighting. The pres-
ence of the opaque wall creates a difference in luminance value between the outside and the inside.
Even with a typical window, it does not help much in reucing the difference in brightness level. The inte-
rior space usually looks darker than the exterior space.Henceforth, visually we can sense that there’s a
clear separation of space. There’s a clear cut line between interior and exterior which is what Van Eyck
does not want.

With full glass windows(supported by mullions) he reduces the difference in brightness of space(which
relates to his Time relativity concept) For eg, if sunlight can stream into interior space from outside, it feels
as if the exterior has overlap and reach into the interior.Hence, through providing full height glass win-
dow( rather than the conventional windows)Van Eyck cleverly made use of the sense of time (Relativity)
to make the user perceive the overlapping of space.

This diagram illustrates how the full height glass window Compared to the diagram on the left, this dia-
allows the penetration of light from the exterior into gram illustrates how much luminance a typical
the interior, creating a deceptive sense of exterior and window can provide to the interior. This two
interior spaces overlapping diagrams show the huge difference in lumi-
nance between an Exterior & Interior space
without the full height glass window.

Outside looking in

Although the public space is bounded by
walls on all four sides,the transparency of glass
allows visual connectivity of exterior to interior.
This increases the sense of openess,it cuts off
the restricting feel of confinement by the brick
walls. Together ,with the public square being
open to sky, it still has the feeling of being out-
side while at the same time being contained
within a space. Henceforth, the feeling of the
outside being brought in and the inside being
brought out.

Public vs Private | Line of Inquiry #4

Twin Phenomena &
the In-Between

Twin Phenomena is the idea that in nature binary oppo- One of the design interventions Van
sites exists - just like Light & Dark, Eyck did to illustrate his Twin Phenome-
Public & Private, Inside & Outside. na ideal (the harmonious coexistence of
polar oppsites) is the introduction of
When these two binary opposites are brought together transitional space. The transitional space
through design interventions, there will be a harmonious mitigate the extremity of Public & Pri-
coexistence. Van Eyck thus introduce an in-between vate levels of spaces in the building.
realm so that this binary opposites will not be perceived This is an attempt to blur the boundary
as mutually exclusives. between what is defined as public or
private.

In between realm

Private Transition Public Transition Private

Relativity

The idea that spaces should be seen in comparison Transitional space, enriches the journey the
to one another(everything is relative). This will start to experience between inner and outer space.
form relationships between spaces which gives mean- Transition spaces like the courtyard and pub-
ing to what we perceive. lic squares mediate Public and Private space
also brings us the illusory feel that the outside is
For eg, as illustrated in the diagram below, when brought in, and the inside is brought outside.
there’s the Public and Private space, we can deduce
that the transition spaces are in-betweens that act to
mediate the extremity of public and private space.

"Architecture that aims to be
humane, must consequently de-
vote special attention to the
inbetween; specifically to the ar-
chitectural forms and transitional
places through which people
meet, and invite them to stay."
---- Aldo Van Eyck,1961

13
11

1 22 12 20 1
14
23 16 2
24
21 3

2 22 15 17 N

23 22 19 2nd Storey Plan
18
3 1 14-20 y.o boys department
2 14-20 y.o girls department
23 3 10-14 y.o boys department
4 10-14 y.o girls department
4 5 4
24 Classrooms
23 23

N 11 Gym and Theatre 21 Ramp to bike cellar 10 6
1st Storey Plan 12 Head’s office 22 Public Squares 8
13 Psychologist’s office 23 Courtyards 23
1 14-20 y.o boys department
2 14-20 y.o girls department 14 Staff room and Library 7
15 Service entrance admission & Bath
3 10-14 y.o boys department 16 Minibus garage 23
4 10-14 y.o girls department 17 Laundry & storerooms
5 6-10 y.o mixed department 18 Main Kitchen 9
6 4-6 y.o mixed department 19 Head’s Home
7 2-4 y.o mixed department 20 Department head’s home
8 Baby department
9 Sick bay
10 Party room

A BB A
AA BB

N N
1st Storey Plan 2nd Storey Plan

Public Public
Between Public-Private Private
Private

Section B-B As illustrated in these diagrams,the
transition spaces are usually court-
yards and circulation corridors.
However, the experience in these
transition zones is not as simple as
it seems. As the user journeys from
a public to a private space(or vice
versa), this transition zones give an
illusory feeling of walking in a city,
with the public squares looking like
city squares and the winding maze-
like corridors acting like streets in a
city.

Section A-A
Public zone
Transition zone
Private zone

Programmatic Line of Inquiry #5
Distribution |

Spatial arrangement The sleeping quarters are made up of repeti-
tive same-looking blocks, hence it allows free-
The sleeping quarters of the children are dom of the orphanage to relocate the age
located at the left and right wings. The public group departments as they would like to use it.
squares and corridor are in the middle, linking This supports the ideals of structuralism where
all the public and private spaces. spaces should be non-dictative by the archi-
tect.

The programmatic distribution is the result of However, a main point of concern is:
consideration for Public vs private space, Why would Van Eyck put the party
Interior vs Exterior space according to room next to the baby’s department
his Twin Phenomena and in-between and the sickbay where the loud noises
concept as well as the user journey ex- from the party room would disrupt the
perience which relates to his idea. baby’s sleep as well as the patient’s
rest?

14-20 Y.O boys department Gym & Staff room Classrooms
Theatre & Library Services rooms

Section A-A

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11

1 22 12 16 20
14 19
23
21

2 22 15 17

23

N 3 22 2nd Storey Plan
18
1st Storey Plan 23 1 14-20 y.o boys department
5 2 14-20 y.o girls department
1 14-20 y.o boys department 11 Gym and Theatre 4 3 10-14 y.o boys department
2 14-20 y.o girls department 12 Head’s office 23 4 10-14 y.o girls department
23
3 10-14 y.o boys department 13 Psychologist’s office 6 24 Classrooms
4 10-14 y.o girls department 8
5 6-10 y.o mixed department 14 Staff room and Library 23
6 4-6 y.o mixed department 15 Service entrance admission & Bath
7 2-4 y.o mixed department 7
8 Baby department 16 Minibus garage
9 Sick bay 23
17 Laundry & storerooms 10
10 Party room 18 Main Kitchen 9

19 Head’s Home

20 Department head’s home

21 Ramp to bike cellar

22 Public Squares

23 Courtyards

Entertainment facilities Corridor Educational Facilities
Service rooms Public Squares
Sleeping Quarters Courtyard

Circulation | Line of Inquiry # 6

13
11

12 To Younger Children’s sleeping quarters

22 20 To Gym & Theatre

1 16 A
21
23 B

2 22 14 15 To 14-20 Y.O department
17
B
19
23
22 Note
3 18 Colours of arrow represents the two di erent axis

A23 5

4 23

23 6

10 23

N 7

1st Storey Plan 11 Gym and Theatre 21 Ramp to bike cellar 8 23
12 Head’s office 22 Public Squares
1 14-20 y.o boys department 13 Psychologist’s office 23 Courtyards Children’s Circulation
2 14-20 y.o girls department Sta ’s Circulation
3 10-14 y.o boys department 14 Staff room and Library 9
4 10-14 y.o girls department 15 Service entrance admission & Bath Note
5 6-10 y.o mixed department 16 Minibus garage 1)Children’s circulation accounts for
6 4-6 y.o mixed department 17 Laundry & storerooms children of all ages
7 2-4 y.o mixed department 18 Main Kitchen 2) Staff circulation includes the head,
8 Baby department 19 Head’s Home department head of the orphanage, as well
9 Sick bay 20 Department head’s home as the cleaning staff, chef or any other
10 Party room servants.

To Gym & Theatre

From the diagrams above, 2 key vistas the users
will see as they journey through the corridor are 2
public squares.Due to the winding nature of the
corridor, the experience of journey feels as if one
is walking through a winding street in the city pass-
ing through city squares as they overlook from the
inside through the full height glass window into the
public square.

Along this route,as seen, there is two prominent axis
that locks the users permanently to two terminating
points which are the Gym & Theatre(on one end)
and the younger children bedroom chambers(the
other end).

The diagonally arranged repetitive blocks created
2 diagonal axis. This creates a winding corridor that
fluidly connects all the spaces. Hence the journey
experience feels endless where the paths meander
such that the children and staff there make new
discoveries at every turn. The selective openings in
the walls create a partially conceal/ partially reveal
visual experience that adds on to the sense of mys-
tery and surprise at every new discoveries.

Roof

2nd Storey
1st Storey

Children circulation
Staff circulation

Exploded isonometric
circulation diagram

Facade | Line of Inquiry #7

Introduction Comparison model study on th

Van Eyck uses traditional material ele- Diagram illustrating actual materials used for Di
ments that are easily available locally both storeys al
like brick, concrete and glass.
On the 1st Storey, Aldo Van Eyck used a
For the dome roofs, he used precast diversity of materials to construct the facade,
concrete throughout so that there is a namely : brick, concrete and full height glass
continuous expression. windows. There are only brick walls and full
height glass windows for 1st storey’s wall facade.
On certain dome roofs, there are This is because it was intentionally done to further
celestory windows that bring in light to articulate the continuous expression of the con-
the interior. crete columns and beams

Conventional casement windows are
used on the second storey, there isn’t
any full height glasss windows.

13

1 11 12 21 16 20
22 14 15 17
C 22 C
2 18
23 C
23 19
C

22

he facade 3

iagram illustrating changed in materi- 23
ls used on 2nd Storey
4 5
Rather than repeating the same thing as
he did on the 1st Storey, Van Eyck 23 23
decided to flush all the wall facade with
using only concrete walls, this hides the 6
structural columns and beams as
well.This provided a strong juxtaposition 23
that will make the articulated expression 10
of the 1st Storey to stand out more.
7
Section C-C
23
Elevation C-C
8
9

N 11 Gym and Theatre 21 Ramp to bike cellar
12 Head’s office 22 Public Squares
1st Storey Plan 13 Psychologist’s office 23 Courtyards

1 14-20 y.o boys department 14 Staff room and Library
2 14-20 y.o girls department 15 Service entrance admission & Bath
16 Minibus garage
3 10-14 y.o boys department 17 Laundry & storerooms
4 10-14 y.o girls department 18 Main Kitchen
5 6-10 y.o mixed department 19 Head’s Home
6 4-6 y.o mixed department 20 Department head’s home
7 2-4 y.o mixed department
8 Baby department
9 Sick bay

10 Party room

Diversity vs Unity

From the section and elevation, we can see
that there are many transformations between
indoor and outdoor, including changes in the
solid walls and glass on both sides of the
corridor,which make the experience richer-
the feeling of heaviness(brick solid walls) to
lightness(full height glass windows)

The brick walls and full height glass windows
on the 1st Storey successfully highlights the
honest expression of the structural columns
and beams clearly.

From the facade, we can see that van Eyck
applied his ideal of Twin Phenomena(Diversity
vs Unity as polar opposites) . Diversity is seen
from the rich materials he uses. Unity is
grasped when you look at the overall building
as a big picture, nothing about the materials
look out of place, they look like they belong
and they speak of one identity.

Conclusion |

Van Eyck’s Ideals, vision for the orphanage

The langue that Van Eyck practices is the idea that when binary/ polar opposites are brought together,
they create a harmonious coexistence known as the Twin Phenomena and the polar oppsites spaces
should be perceived in Relativity( things, spaces exist relative to one another, a basis for cross compari-
son) .Henceforth, meaningful spaces like the transitional spaces are crafted. Other polar opposite key-
words explored by Van Eyck in the Amsterdam Orphanage are: Part vs Whole, Simplicity vs Complexity,
Diversity vs Unity, and Individualistic vs Collectivistic.

His vision for the orphanage was to make “ A house is a city and a city is a house”, where the house is
the Part and the City is a Whole. Both are mutually related, given equivalent importance despite their
differences. The Whole being comprehensible only through putting together the Parts, and the Parts still
remain uniquely distinguishable in the Whole.

Van Eyck’s Parole

Through massing he created 3 basic repetitive blocks (although mainly its 2, as the 3rd basic block is an
extension from the 1st Storey).These forms the Parts (viewed as a house on an analogy level) when put
together, it assembles a Whole( The orphanage building, viewed as the city on an analogy level) with
winding corridors that act like streets and public squares looking like city squares. Together, this forms 2
fundamentally different configuration levels- the Simple vs the Complex. The Part still remains uniquely
distinguishable amongst the whole, and the whole is only made comprehensible when the parts are
brought together.

Through the column-beam connection structure it gives users greater freedom and encourage users
to actively adapt the spaces within the orphanage .There is no definitive boundary to be distinguished
between spaces.This allows for expression of non hierarchical spaces which relates to structuralism(the
idea that spaces should not be dictated on its usage but left to the users to decide).

Through the design intervention of transitional spaces, he introduced an in-between realm that helps-
bridge the extremity of public & private, Interior & exterior (2 sets of polar opposites).

Through the physical overlapping of interior and exterior boundaries, it crafts an overlapped shared
space where it will co-share boundaries. Users standing in this spot would feel a subtle doubt of whether
they are inside or outside.

Through using the understanding of how people sense time and hence manipulating the facade to
display the sense of time , Van Eyck applied his langue Relativity to create a deceptive visual sense that
the exterior space has overlapped into the interior (through the play of light).

Through circulation, the winding corridors and public squares that are visible along the journey gives off
the surreal experience oft travesting in a city street. The private sleeping quarters act like houses, the
corridor acts like the city street and the public squares resembles city squares.

Through the facade, Van Eyck showed the justaposition of the 1st Storey and 2nd Storey with the rich
varied materials used on 1st Storey and the singular unity of concrete usuage on the 2nd Storey to show
how the polar opposites Diversity vs Unity can coexists in the same time frame, picture,building( relates
to Twin Phenomena) .

Entertainment facilities Corridor Educational Facilities
Service rooms Public Squares
Sleeping Quarters Courtyard

fin-

“Tree is a leaf and leaf is a tree”

-Aldo van Eyck

Aldo Van Eyck Amsterdam Orphanage Precedent Study Report