THE CITY OF THE CHILD, AN INTRODUCTION ARCHITECT

This poster contains a comparison of two buildings, designed by Herman Hertzberger. The goal of this poster is to understand the ideas the architect had during his Herman Hertzberger was born in Amsterdam in 1932. In 1958, after completing his stud-
‘CITY OF THE CHILD’ design proces and how these operate in his buildings. In Hertzberger’s oeuvre we discovered that he did a lot of schoolprojects and from these he especially liked the
primary schools. We also discovered that he had two big design phases in his life. For these two reasons we chose two primary schools, one from his old and one from
ies at the Technical University in Delft, he returned to Amsterdam to set up his own
architectural office. Hertzberger states that the reconstruction after the second World
his new design style. The first is called the ‘Evenaar’ (made in Amsterdam, finished in 1986) and the second is called the ‘Koperwiek’ (made in Venlo, finished in 1997). War is functionalistic and not for making good nor beautiful buildings. He adheres to a
structuralistic philosophy of ‘spatial possibility’ in which architecture is used to provide a
In his old design style he adheres the structuralistic style. This style appeared after WOII and was a reaction against rationalism. Hertzberger was one of the founders spatial framework through which users influence a building’s design. He implements the
of the structuralism and made a lot of architectonical contributions to this style. In Hertzberger’s new and current design style he didn’t hold on to the structuralism so principle of human relations, human measure and human scale. Hertzberger has suc-
much, he made more open designs. Although he uses a different design style his point of origin haven’t changed. The users of the building will always maintain the cessfully applied this socially inspired theory to a range of different school buildings, but
highest priority. also in houses and offices.

Primary school | DE EVENAAR | 1984-1986 | Amsterdam Venlo | 1995-1997 | DE KOPERWIEK | Primary school

SITUATION STREETVIEW BG V1 V2 D1 FRONT SIDE SITUATION STREET VIEW BG V1 D1 FRONT SIDE

CHING_analysis analysis _CHING

a c

adjecent
a b c interlocking

common space
interlocking space
adjecent SPATIAL RELATIONSHIPS SPATIAL ORGANISATIONS APPROACH ENTRANCE
SPATIAL RELATIONSHIPS SPATIAL ORGANISATIONS APPROACH ENTRANCE CLUSTERED OBLIQUE RECESSED

CENTRALIZED OBLIQUE PROJECTED

CONFIGURATION OF THE PATH PATH SPACE RELATIONSHIPS FORM OF THE CIRCULATION SPACE
LINEAR PASS BY SPACES OPEN ON BOTH SIDES
CONFIGURATION OF THE PATH PATH SPACE RELATIONSHIPS FORM OF THE CIRCULATION SPACE
RADIAL PASS TROUGH SPACES OPEN ON BOTH SIDES

CLARK & PAUSE_analysis analysis _CLARK & PAUSE

b b

balance a
symmetry

b b

STRUCTURE MASS CIRCULATION SYMMETRY & BALANCE GEOMETRY

STRUCTURE MASS CIRCULATION SYMMETRY GEOMETRY

ADDITIVE LOCAL SUBTRACTION HIERARCHY NATURAL LIGHT PARTI

GEOMETRY ADDITIVE LOCAL SUBTRACTIONS HIERARCHY NATURAL LIGHT PARTI

STEADMAN_topology analysis topology analysis _STEADMAN

Functions
S8

Entrance/exit
S7
Classroom
B Toilet
A
Coatstand area
S4 ´ S2
Teachers room S2 ‘
S6
B
S5 S4
A Central hall
S1 ´ S1 C
S3 ´ Play area C

C Storage
S3 S1 S1 ’
D S6 S5
S2 ´
Corridor
S1
Entrance playground
S9
S9 ´ A A B B
S0 ‘ C Symbols

S0 S1 Depart

S2
S1 ‘ Arrive
D Visualisation/audio
No access for students
Access for students and teachers
A Repeated cluster A

GROUND FLOOR | LEVEL 1 GROUND FLOOR | LEVEL 2 LEVEL 1 | LEVEL 1 LEVEL 1 | LEVEL 2 LEVEL 2 GROUND FLOOR LEVEL 1

TZONIS_FOP analysis FOP analysis _TZONIS

Form Operation Performance Operation Form

daylight from top

create zones through height differences

create visibility lines 1

MEETING PLACE

emphasize the meeting place

1 daylight from top

create zones through height differences

create visibility lines

1
2

2 stimulate meetings

clear routing

consistent use of color

2 PERCEPTION OF THE CHILD

enhance awareness of location

within the school and outside of it 1
clear routing

consistent use of color

use of geometric forms make the child feel safe 2 use of geometric forms

3
create nishes create nishes

ARTICULATED SPACES

1 stimulate different activities

possibility to adapt
2 back and to explore
enhance ability to draw possibility to adapt

OUEVRE_Herman Hertzberger Herman Hertzberger _OUEVRE

primary schools old design style primary schools new design style
1.1 | 1.2 | 2.1 | 2.2 | 3.1 | 3.2

1.1 | 1.2 | 2.1 | 2.2 | 3.1 | 3.2

1.1 | 1.2 | 2.2 | 3.1 | 3.2

1.1 | 1.2 | 2.2 | 3.2

1.2 | 3.1 | 3.2

1.2 | 2.2 | 3.2

De Apolloscholen De Evenaar De Polygoon De Anne Frankschool De Bombardon De Koperwiek

1980-1983 1984-1986 1990-1992 1993-1994 1993-1995 1995-1997

COMPARISON CONCLUSION

Both buildings have a central meeting place in the center of the building. All the routing within is connected through this space, so it is the space where most activity takes
place. Things that give this space something extra are the visual connections created by making voids in the main structure of the building and the big amount of natural light
(especially from the roof) that falls on this space. However, the meeting places differ from each other when we look to how they were created. In the ‘Evenaar’ Hertzberger
adds a new volume to the building which interlocks with the two existing volumes. The space created, where the existing and new volumes intersect, is used as the central
meeting place. For the ‘Koperwiek’ he uses the two existing volumes and brings them together to interlock. The overlapping part is then used as the central meeting place.
When we look at the outside of the buildings we see that Hertzberger used simple, geometric volumes for both the buildings. Also he emphasizes the main entrance by add-
ing a volume to it or subtracting a part from it. For the ‘Evenaar’ he does this by adding a big stair where people can also sit on and for the ‘Koperwiek’ he does this by taking
an interlocking part out of the building so a little place to shelter is created. When we go inside the buildings we see a big difference between used materials. In the ‘Evenaar’
he mainly used concrete-stone and wood while in the ‘Koperwiek’ he used more modern materials like aluminum, glass and still some wooden influences.
As a result of this analysis of the two primary schools we noticed that Hertzberger always has three different main themes in his designs. These themes are: ‘meeting place’,
‘perception of the child’ and ‘articulated spaces’. For his first theme ‘meeting place’, he uses the centers of both schools as the meeting place. He creates this place by connect-
ing the whole inner structure of spaces with the possibility to have a visual relationship with the different levels that are gathered around this space. By doing this it becomes
the heart of the school. As for the ‘perception of the child’, he tries to keep the inside and outside of the building simple and clear. Inside the building he creates a routing with
a clear structure and basic colors so the children can recognize the different functions within the school. For the outside of the building he keeps the forms simple by using
geometric forms and forms that are drawn from these forms. In his third theme ‘articulated spaces’, Hertzberger gives the children individual and save zones. This is done by
creating spaces and objects that are interpretable in several ways. Despite that Hertzberger changed his architectural style during time, the themes that are mentioned above
always maintained the same. When Herman Hertzberger designs a primary school, he wants to create an environment that is challenging and at the same time comforting
for the child. While doing this he keeps in mind that it is a place to learn. By applying this design philosophy he creates a ‘city of the child’.

Teacher Student Student Student Student

Karina Moraes Zarzar Kaho Ng Yasser Hassan Dave Letink Gerald Grootelaar
BK8040 | Method & analysis Group 5 4065719 4143590 4191285 4185439 zaterdag 12 novemeber 2011