The Zonnestraal Sanatorium 1926

Case study: The Zonnestraal Sanatorium 1926

In the late nineteenth century, Netherlands’ architecture was dominated by Hendrik Petrus Berlage, considered the father of modern Dutch Architecture. His theories of architectural function combined with social utility inspired most of the Dutch architects of the 1920s (Blundell, 2005). Thanks to its neutrality, Holland had the privilege of escaping the physical and social trauma caused by the First World War, hence it became the focal point in the development of Modernist Ideas (Crouch, 1999). One architect that stood out among the others was Jan Duiker with his designs based on light and fresh air, as expressed in the Zonnestraal Sanatorium. During 1905, Holland’s Diamond workers Union proposed the creation of a Sanatorium aimed at the cure and rehabilitation of diamond workers affected by tuberculosis. The air breathed in the polishing workshops was contaminated by dust particles and made easier the development of respiratory conditions, that facilitated the subsequent contraction of tuberculosis (Zoetbrood, 1984). In 1919, thanks to the money donated for this cause, a property of more than two hundred and seventy acres in the North-West of Hilversum was bought by the union itself. It was divided into two distinguished natural areas, one was a thick forest and the other comprised fields of heather, that were sunnier and more exposed to fresh air than the forest (Koenders, 2010). The Sanatorium rose in the middle of these two areas. The realization of the Sanatorium was firstly appointed to Berlage, but he refused as he had already a big contract for another project. Thanks to a convincing proposal inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright’s work, the project was then assigned to Johannes Duiker and Bernard Bijovet (Milelli, 2000). The assigned name of the Sanatorium was Zonnestraal, which means ‘Sunbeam’, a clear reference to De Stijl art movement idea of beneficial and therapeutical power of the sun. Before handing over their final proposal, Duiker and Bijvoet took some time to study other Sanatoriums spread across the globe. They came up with more than a single distinctive final proposal and each of them was inspired by a different Sanatorium, for instance, a proposal labelled as ‘First Proposal’ was similar to the North American Tuberculosis Hospital Cook County in Oak Forest while another proposal resembled the King Edward VII Tuberculosis Sanatorium in Sussex, a place that Duiker went to visit together with his wife and a doctor who has following the Zonnestraal project (Zoetbrood, 1984). Due to the 1920 global crisis, the project was temporarily suspended until 1923, when an improvement in the economic condition occurred. In the same year, the

Case study: The Zonnestraal Sanatorium 1926

committee went to the United Kingdom to visit Papworth antituberculosis Colony in Cambridgeshire first and then Royal Victoria Hospital in Edinburgh next. After this trip, Duiker wrote a letter to the members of the commission, in which he highlighted his willing to not build a Sanatorium composed of cottages or pavilions similar the British ones, as the commission was advising to do. While the architects and the commission were trying to reach a compromise, in 1924 they were commissioned for two new projects by the same committee, a laundry facility, to extract diamond dust from workers’ uniforms, and a pavilion house for Jan Van Zutphen’s wife (Molema, 1986). The laundry was a precursor of some concepts and features that would be later seen in the Sanatorium, where there was a clear search for the ‘spiritual economy’, a way of understanding architecture that goes beyond financial economics but seeks immaterialization and spirituality in architectural constructions (Garcia garcia, 1995). In 1925 Duiker and Bijvoet took different paths, the first moved his studio in Amsterdam while the second moved to Paris. Between 1925 and 1926 the final project became a reality thanks to the collaboration between Duiker and civil engineer Jan Gerko Wiebenga. Forms and ubication were constrained to the decision of the commission to give up the idea of having a compact Sanatorium, in favour of a scheme more similar to the cottages of Papworth tuberculosis Colony. Duiker was concerned about some aspects, such as the orientation of the building towards the south, the views of the landscape from the building and the dimensions of the front façade. He designed four different plans accordingly to commission requests and trying to find the best solution to his concerns (Zoetbrood, 1984).

7. Laundry facility by Jan Duiker and Bijvoet. 1924-1925.

Case study: The Zonnestraal Sanatorium 1926

This approach to architecture was close to M. Ginzburg’s ‘functional method’, in which every architectural problem which rose during the design phase was solved like any other, through the precise clarification of the unknowns. (Garrido, 2007). Duiker found geometry as a useful tool to resolve these problems, a decision influenced by Berlage’s vision of geometry, that according to with Pedro Iglesias Picazo’s book ‘La habitacion del enfermo. Ciencia y arquitectura en los hospitals del Movimento Moderno’ stated in an interview in 1908 ‘Time changes trends (...) but what is found on geometry and science always remains.’ (Picazo, 2011). Furthermore, the choice of using concrete gave him a high level of freedom for the shapes of the building. Duiker created a symmetric and radial building complex consisting of various centres arranged along the axis of symmetry, the first centre coincides with the north-central structure. As the site sloped towards the south, this structure was elevated and central, so it gained maximum importance in the complex’s hierarchy. The complex embodied three main separate buildings, linked through glazed corridors. The upper building includes the administrative block where also operating theatre, X-rays, and an intensive care little ward for six patients were situated, while the lower building was where the main kitchen and the boiler rooms were (H, C. H., 1932). Both these buildings were low-rise in order to leave an uninterrupted view to the central structure and climax of the whole complex, a cruciform shaped building that accommodated a massive recreational and dining area where all the patients gathered. The Greek cross-shaped building summarized the importance of sunlight and fresh air in Duiker’s method. In fact, it was glazed from floor to ceiling in each side and it also presented large roof lights to gain even more sunlight. The level of transparency of the building transformed the interior spaces in an extension of the exterior, to create a close link with the surrounding nature, also claimed to be beneficial for the patients as much as the sunlight. (Overy, 2007) This concept was remarkable in Frank Lloyd Wright’s architecture and his book published in 1954 The Natural House in which he wrote “I began to understand dwelling not as a cave, but as a spacious outdoor shelter, connected with the inside and outside views” (Wright, 1954). Following his geometric method, the architect distributed the accommodations in different blocks, paired in groups of two and shifted about forty-five degrees one from the other in order to offer interrupted views to the south-facing rooms. In addition to the outstanding views, this disposition boosted exposure to sunlight and fresh air for patients. The angles were not left empty, indeed there were common rooms that caught an abundant

8. Aerial view of the Zonnestraal Sanatorium.(1926)

9. Top plan of the Zonnestraal Sanatorium showing the uninterrupted views.(1926)

10. Top plan of the Zonnestraal Sanatorium showing the intersections with the axis of simmetry.(1926)

Case study: The Zonnestraal Sanatorium 1926

amount of sunlight too. There were a hundred accommodations designed for single occupancy, divided into two wings of twenty-four, with twelve accommodations per floor, and two wings of twenty-six, with thirteen accommodations per floor and every single one of them had direct access to the outside thanks to the circulation that was placed in their north side (H, C. H., 1932). Even though patients were alone in the room, they still had the possibility of interacting with people on the same floor and share all aspects of this confined experience. They were all men, and they had airy workshops of wood to keep them actively employed and prepare them to their return to work. Both the interior and exterior of the building were completely white, to transmit an idea of hygiene and to reflect even more light in the interior. (Molema, 1986) The Zonnestraal Sanatorium was inaugurated on the 12th of June 1928 and it remained in use until the Streptomycin was discovered, making it obsolete and leaving it to dereliction. Only after several decades, this masterpiece of concrete and glass has been restored to his original form and nowadays it is serving as a multi-purpose health facility. (Ishida, 2017)

12. Exterior view of the Zonnestraal Sanatorium.