van nelle fabriek in stereo

The design of the Van Nelle-factory is in many ways revolutionary. While acknowledging the inventiveness of the young Van der Vlugt, this innovation is equally attributable to the dedication of the client, C.H. van der Leeuw. Besides optimum functioning of the concern, great emphasis was placed on providing improved working conditions for the employees. The factory proper is in three volumes of decreasing height, one of eight levels for tobacco, a coffee section of five levels with a double-height entresol, and a three-level tea department. All three zones adjoin a main service route and are further connected by bridges (almost the hallmark of this factory) to a row along the water of dispatch and storage spaces, a bicycle shed, a boiler house and workshops. The combination of an objective functionalism and a humane view of architecture resulted in one of the absolute pinnacles of the Dutch Modern Movement. The Dutch photographer Martin van den Oever has made a fascinating stereoscopic (3-D) series of photographs on the architecture of Brinkman and Van der Vlugt’s world famous Van Nelle Factory. This book contains twenty of his best photographs which together clearly demonstrate the delicate transparency of this functionalist masterpiece and confront the viewer with its spatiality. As an extra the dust wrapper of this book is a one-to-one reprint of an original drawing by Brinkman and Van der Vlugt (62cm x 145cm) which can also be used as a poster.