VAN NELLE FACTORY
Netherlands
The Van Nelle Factory was built on the banks of a canal in the Spaanse Polder industrial zone northwest of Rotterdam, Netherlands, between 1925 and 1931 by architect Leendert van der Vlugt from the Brinkman & Van der Vlugt office in cooperation with civil engineer J.G. Wiebenga, a specialist in reinforced concrete structures. The buildings were commissioned by the co-owner of the Van Nelle company, Kees van der Leeuw, on behalf of the owners.
In the 20th century the factory was in charge of processing tobacco, coffee and tea, and later on chewing gum, cigarettes, instant pudding and rice were added in its production. The industry operated until 1995, when the company was reorganized and the production was halted. The buildings are currently the home to a variety of new media and design companies with a space for meetings, conferences and events up to 5.000 people. This conversion was planned and organized by dutch specialist Eric Gude that also introduced Wessel De Jonge as the authority on the renovation of the modern architecture building that started in the year 2000.
The factory attracted international attention as soon as it was completed in 1931 and quickly became one of the best examples of modern architecture in the Netherlands. Described as being in one of the iconic 20th century industrial architectural sites that comprises a complex of factories, it was conceived as an “ideal factory” open to the outside world, whose interior working spaces evolved according to the needs, and in which daylight was used to provide pleasant working conditions.
The Factory is a classic example of the Nieuwe Bouwen (New Building) school of Dutch modernist architecture as the ingenious building was designed to provide all the facilities for the employees close at hand, keeping the building fully above-ground to create air, light and space. Another characteristic of the Modern Movement is the use of modern materials and construction methods that translate in transparent, spacious and bright spaces, clearly reflected in the Van Nelle Factory buildings by its clear metal structure and large windows. The transparency effect is further enhanced not by the facades, but also by the fungiform pillars inside the building bearing construction. It is also claimed that the buildings feature the first industrial prefabricated curtain wall in the world.
The Van Nelle factory embodied what was the new type of factory that became the symbol of modernist and functionalist culture in the inter-war period, showing clear influence of the Russian Constructivism from being a monumental building in the outside but with innovative and modern processes in the inside. The complex has great historical and social value as it was a building whose working conditions were of paramount importance. This human centered approach to working conditions came as a response to the typical unfriendly industrial environments which were the norm. This edifice was eventually awarded on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
