Winkel (G2), Coolsingel 105

English translation

The text above is the record as published by the Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed, in Dutch. The English below is a machine translation made by TreeAlive, not by the Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed; it has not been checked by a person. Where the two differ, the original is the record. Report a translation error: privacy@treealive.com

Description

Introduction

DEPARTMENT STORE 'De Bijenkorf' with former CINEMA 'Cineac-NRC' built in 1955-1957 after a design by M. Breuer in collaboration with A. Elzas. The department store forms part of the protected complex 'De Bijenkorf'. For advice on the interior design of the Bijenkorf, the American D. Schwartzmann, who specialized in this field, was engaged. The architect Breuer, trained at the Bauhaus and later associated as a teacher, became particularly influential and internationally renowned after the Second World War. From 1939 onwards, the fled Hungarian worked as an architect and lecturer in America. In the Netherlands, he also designed the American Embassy in The Hague and Van Leers Vatenfabrieken in Amstelveen. Elzas, who became famous for his functionalist-style synagogue on Lekstraat in Amsterdam (1937), was the permanent architect of the Bijenkorf concern after the war and was responsible for branches of the Hema. In the design for De Bijenkorf, new insights common in America are recognizable in the application of virtually blank facades. The exclusion of outside air and daylight became feasible through technical developments in the field of artificial lighting and climate control systems. This represents an important distinction from the pre-war common department stores with large light courts and extensively glazed facades. In addition to maximum customer attention to merchandise, the greater amount of wall surface was a major advantage. The cinema incorporated in the design was initially intended for screenings of newsreels and later served as a film theatre. Bijenkorf and former Cineac were internally connected with each other.

On the west side originally a building plot reserved for future expansion. The glass exhibition pavilion ('Bijkorama') designed by Breuer and situated here was removed in 1994. The concrete ramp with curved walls and the expedition centre located below ground level were demolished in 2009, as well as the metal turntable for turning expedition vehicles located here.

Description

The DEPARTMENT STORE consists of a rectangular upper structure with virtually blank facades behind which four storeys are concealed above a ground floor and basement. Through the transparent treatment of the plinth of the building, which also recedes slightly, the box-shaped volume is visually separated from the ground level. The former Cineac CINEMA is housed in a narrow intermediate section on the north side that is lower and set back. The building has a limited number of polygonal columns with a hollow steel core, in favour of a flexible and efficient layout of the sales floors. In the construction of the external facades, rectangular columns determine the rhythm. The three free-standing facades of the upper structure are clad with travertine plates provided with fine-point tooling in alternating directions for a lively surface. On the east and west sides, these plates are hexagonal and form a honeycomb motif alluding to the name of the department store. On the south facade and the visible parts of the north facade rectangular plates. The facade surfaces are perforated with narrow slit windows which, apart from a functional purpose, mainly have a decorative effect. On the inside, the windows are equipped with light fixtures. Two horizontal window strips under the eaves provide daylight access to offices and studios on the fourth floor. Two large rectangular windows mark the location of the lunch room on the 2nd floor. In contrast with the light natural stone covering of the facades, dark Portuguese granite is applied as cladding of columns, walls and floors in the plinth and in the large facade openings. The ground floor consists of continuous display windows with glass shop fronts, which are set back slightly behind the facade columns. They are alternated with entrance sections with glazed entrance doors (replaced) provided with characteristic wooden handles. The west facade facing the expedition street has a similar layout with a more closed infill. Naming lettering is applied to the east and south facades. The front facade of the Cineac is executed in dark brick and provided with a tall glazed front at the ground and first floor level. Above the entrance doors, a striking steel support structure for announcements projects outwards through the shop front. The top floor of the department store has three rectangular patios for optimal daylight access to the staff rooms. The north facade is also executed as a glass facade at the location of the service rooms situated behind the Cineac, for the same reason. Nearby the facade corners, series of flagpoles are placed on the flat roof.

The interior of the department store consists of stacked floors with undivided sales spaces, in which the columns placed at considerable distances from each other and the virtually absent daylight are characteristic. In the interior, low shop furniture was originally applied, fitting the flexible character. The original, open ceiling finish with a wooden beam grid is still partly present. The main access to the sales spaces in the form of an escalator section (stairs renovated) is located centrally in the building. On the south side a stairwell finished with natural stone and on the opposite side a lift section with a front in the same material. The department store has, in addition to the section intended for shopping public, a separate service circuit with its own entrances and service staircases connecting to the office floor. This floor has a clear layout with non-load-bearing walls accessed by a corridor running around the perimeter, and is finished in a unified, business-like design, of which various elements, such as wall tiling and travertine floor covering, have been preserved. The former Cineac is equipped with a hall for 600 spectators.

Valuation

The DEPARTMENT STORE with former CINEMA, designed by M. Breuer in collaboration with A. Elzas from 1955-1957, part of the complex 'De Bijenkorf', represents general interest as a milestone in the architecture of the Reconstruction period because of:

- the cultural-historical significance, as part of the complex, as a symbol of the reconstruction;

- the cultural-historical values as a special expression of the economic recovery after the war and the development of consumer society, whereby the phenomenon of international orientation in the commissioning and realization of the design also plays a role;

- the architectural-historical and typological significance due to the innovative retail typology, as the most forward-looking department store of that time and as an excellent example of post-war modernist architecture applied to a commercial function;

- the high-quality aesthetic quality of the design, despite a large-scale programme and simple main form, in which the rich use of materials and refined composition of building elements based on modern, functionalist design are characteristic;

- as part of the (Dutch) oeuvre of the leading and internationally oriented architect M. Breuer, who as one of the few international architects in this period designed a number of important buildings in the Netherlands;

- the conceptual and material integrity of the building, which still serves the same function;

- the ensemble values with the external work of art designed in addition to the building;

- the urban planning significance, because the architecture of the department store is exemplary of the reconstruction plan for the city based on modernist principles and because of its image-defining position on the Coolsingel.