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Rietveld Schröder House

Hi Everybody! Today I'm gonna talk about the fantastic creation of Gerrit Thomas Rietveld, The Schröder House, which I had the honour to visit last month. It is situated in a periferic area of Utrecht, infact I had some problems to reach it. I really suggest to visit it, because it's a very amazing building of a true genius!

It is a real innovation in the world of Architecture, because it's the son of a new Art Movement called "De Stijl".

This movement was born in 1917 in Holland by a group of painters, sculptors and a furniture maker, all linked by the need of a new form of art: they wanted a more conceptual art that could find a new balance between the universe and the individual, so they started privileging the geometric form of the rectangle and primary colours, as Cubism did.

Probably it's the first building that shows what meant "abstraction" to the De Stijl's artists, and its interiors show it, too: if we look at the "Red Blue Chair" (1917-18, G.T Rietveld), we can find the same characteristics. 

He chose primary colours and simple lines, as his chair would have come out from a Mondrian paint! Primary colours can hide wood veinings in order to delate every naturalistic connection.

Look at struts and beams, they make us think that the coloured elements are fluctuating in the air!

The Red Blue Chair was the dogma for the Schröder House project, infact the walls appear completely indipendent from each other, as they were hanging in the space.

It has a ground floor and a first floor,linked by a staircase. On the ground floor there is the entrance with the hall, the toilet, the kitchen, the bedroom of the servant with a little room near of it, the studio and the library.

Since the house was commissioned by Ms Truus Schröder-Schräder, who was a painter, there are some details that make it worthy of beeing seen, like te "free plan" upstairs. 

Here you have the first floor plan in both situations.

As you can see, thanks to rollaway walls, the living room can be closed in order to define every room.

From a big open space we pass to a fragmented space, composed by the three bedrooms, belonging to Ms Truus Schröder-Schräder, her son and her two daughters, the living/dining room, the toilet and the bathroom.

This floor is surrounded by big windows and balconies, from which there was an amazing view of the countryside at their time, now substituted by a toll road.

SOME INFORMATIONS ABOUT THE VISIT

I always suggest to book the visit online when it's possible, because sometimes there are very long queues to do and it's not sure you'll enter. This is not the case of Rietveld Schröder House: it's not very well-known, aside for architects and students of art perhaps, but it's important to book the visit online because the house is small and only a group of 11 people max can enter. If all the visits of the day are booked, you'll be gone there in vain.
You can book by sending an email to rhreserveringen@centraalmuseum.nl. but you'll pay after, at the House.

Address: Prins Hendriklaan 50, 3583 EP Utrecht, Holland
Telephon Number: +31 30 236 2310

Opening Hours: Tuesdays through to Sundays 11.00 - 17.00
The museum is closed every Monday, Kingsday (27 April), 25 December and 1 January. The museum is open on White Monday and Easter Monday.

It takes 1 hour mor or less to visit the house and Erasmulaan, another Rietveld students building just around the corner. A very kind boy will show you, during the visit, how the rollaway walls and other elements work.
Visit Times: 11.00; 12.00; 14.00; 15.00; 16.00

The price is really cheap for the beauty of the house!
Tickets also include admission on the same day to the Centraal Museum and the Dick Bruna Huis.
€ 14: adults aged 18 and over
€ 8: 13-17 years, CJP and Cultuurkaart pass holders, students
€ 3: CM-club and Museumkaart pass holders, children 12 years and under

Inside the building you're not allowed to take pictures, infact they'll give you a key for your personal locker in which you'll must leave all your things.
Besides, you'll be equipped with the plans of the house and an audio tour in your language.

Hope you liked it! Come back soon! :)

Partenope

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