The Van Nelle Factory is a former coffee, tea and tobacco processing plant on the Schie river in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, designed by the architect Leendert van der Vlugt of the firm Brinkman en van der Vlugt with the civil engineer J.G. Wiebenga and built between 1925 and 1931. Conceived as one of the earliest and most complete expressions of the Dutch Nieuwe Bouwen, or New Building, functionalist movement, the complex is built around steel-reinforced concrete frames sheathed in glass curtain walls that were, by the factory's own reputation, among the first industrially prefabricated curtain walls anywhere. The building drew praise from prominent modernists soon after completion: Le Corbusier called it in 1932 the most beautiful spectacle of the modern age, and the critic Howard Robertson described it in 1930 as a poem in steel and glass. Production continued until 1996, after which the complex was renovated beginning in 2000 into offices, co-working space and event venues, and UNESCO inscribed the Van Nelle Factory as a World Heritage Site in 2014.
Facts
Building Type Completed Year Completed YearConstruction ran from 1925 to 1931; 1931, the year the buildings were finished, is used as the completed-year value. Classification
Standing StatusSourced to the subject's own account Building Type
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In Style
Leendert van der Vlugt's 1931 Rotterdam factory, glass-curtained and function-driven, is UNESCO-listed as a masterpiece of Nieuwe Zakelijkheid, New Objectivity architecture.
Uses Element
Source Van Nelle Factory (Wikipedia)
Source Van Nelle Factory (Wikipedia)
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Sources
1. Van Nelle Factory (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundationlead paragraph, first sentence
The former Van Nelle Factory (Dutch: Van Nellefabriek) on the Schie in Rotterdam, is considered a prime example of the modernist and functionalist architecture.
lead paragraph, first sentence, location clause
The former Van Nelle Factory (Dutch: Van Nellefabriek) on the Schie in Rotterdam, is considered a prime example of the modernist and functionalist architecture.
History section, construction dates sentence
Built between 1925 and 1931, the buildings were designed by architect Leendert van der Vlugt from the Brinkman & Van der Vlugt office in cooperation with civil engineer J.G. Wiebenga, at that time a specialist for constructions in reinforced concrete.
History
Built between 1925 and 1931, the buildings were designed by architect Leendert van der Vlugt from the Brinkman & Van der Vlugt office in cooperation with civil engineer J.G. Wiebenga, at that time a specialist for constructions in reinforced concrete.
Uses Element: Steel, Lead
Soon after it was built, prominent architects described the factory as "the most beautiful spectacle of the modern age" (Le Corbusier in 1932) and "a poem in steel and glass" (Robertson in 1930).
Uses Element: Glass, Lead
Soon after it was built, prominent architects described the factory as "the most beautiful spectacle of the modern age" (Le Corbusier in 1932) and "a poem in steel and glass" (Robertson in 1930).
In Group: Factories, Mills, Breweries and Works, Lead paragraph
The former Van Nelle Factory (Dutch: Van Nellefabriek) on the Schie in Rotterdam, is considered a prime example of the modernist and functionalist architecture.
View the Source 2. Wikidata: Van Nelle Factory
- Wikidata Q2328849, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)
- Wikidata Q2328849, P571 claim (w-bbfill-artsarchag-0926)
View the Source3. Wikipedia
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