CONTENTS
WELCOME TO THE VAN NELLEFABRIEK
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ORIGINS, PRINCIPAL AND DESIGNERS 8 WORLD PORT OF ROTTERDAM 10 COMPANY ‘DE ERVEN DE WED. J. VAN NELLE & ZN TO THE SPAANSE POLDER 20 DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION 24 DESIGNERS OF VAN NELLE 33 IN OPERATION 40 ADAPTIVE RE-USE AND RESTORATION 50 WORLD HERITAGE SITE 54 CRITERIA FOR THE WORLD HERITAGE LIST 58
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TOUR OF THE WORLD HERITAGE SITE
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START 62 OFFICE BUILDING 64 TOBACCO, COFFEE AND TEA FACTORIES 68 BOILER HOUSE 82 SCHIEGEBOUW 86 SCHIEHALLEN 88 WORKSHOP BUILDING 90 FACTORY SITE 92 MORE TO SEE/READ 94 COLOPHON 96
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WELCOME TO THE VAN NELLEFABRIEK
This guide will introduce you to the famous Van Nellefabriek in Rotterdam, which in 2014 was recognized by UNESCO as World Heritage site. This icon of the Modern Movement in the Netherlands was designed by Jan Brinkman and Leen van der Vlugt. As proponents of this movement, they embraced the possibilities offered by industry and construction technology, such as prefabrication of steel, concrete and glass. Like the principal, they aimed for a clean and functional factory building. A healthy working environment with a focus on light and air and efficiency. The ‘Glass Palace’ on the Schie canal was originally designed for the Van Nelle company for the purpose of processing and packaging of coffee, tea and tobacco. These typical ‘colonial goods’ were inseparably associated with the dynamic port of Rotterdam and its age-old global trade. At the time, the Spaanse Polder was a deliberate choice as a highvisibility location. The neon letters on the roof, incorporated in the design, fitted in with this. After the departure of the production company (in 1998) these letters were retained, as was the transparent architecture of the production buildings. Following careful adaptive re-use and restoration, the Van Nellefabriek is currently in use by the creative industry, as office space and for conferences, exhibitions and other events.
Employees leaving the Van Nellefabriek,
The Roastery, adapted for re-use, with
recorded by Carel Blazer, 1957.
newly placed letterbox modules.
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W E L K O M I N D E VA N N E L L E FA B R I E K
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Part 1 of this guide provides information on the origins, the principal and the designers of this first vertical daylight factory (1925-1931) in Europe. The special status of the Van Nellefabriek as the tenth Dutch UNESCO World Heritage site is also dealt with.
W E L C O M E T O T H E VA N N E L L E FA B R I E K
Part 2 offers an architectural tour of the Van Nellefabriek, in words and images, per section, establishing the link between shape, place and use. Thanks to the partial opening to the public, the sublime architecture of the Van Nellefabriek can now be perceived on-site. It will be experienced why this masterpiece of clarity is a continuing source of inspiration for contemporary architecture, art and culture. Photographers like Carel Blazer, Jan Kamman, Cas Oorthuys and others have splendidly captured this quality. Other Rotterdam monuments of the Modern Movement worth a visit are Huis Sonneveld (built for a former partner of the Van Nellefabriek) and the Chabot Museum, both located in the Museum Park. Het Nieuwe Instituut (HNI) is also to be found there, with its superb collection, including the original design drawings of the Van Nellefabriek. At the back of this guide you will find further information on visits to these institutions and on guided tours of the Van Nellefabriek and other sights in Rotterdam.
 The dynamic city view from Boiler House to Koolhaas’ De Rotterdam.
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RONDGANG LANGS HET WERELDERFGOED
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ORIGINS, PRINCIPAL AND DESIGNERS
ï‚‚ The construction site with formwork for the lift shaft for the Tearoom, 1927.
WORLD PORT OF ROTTERDAM
The Van Nellefabriek and Rotterdam share a long history. This is partly due to the global trade in goods and raw materials, soaring here from the Golden Age onwards, and partly to the later development from a traditional medieval staple town to a modern transit port in the polder land of the Rhine delta. Rotterdam is, in fact, one major hydraulic work of engineering, composed of dams, dykes, locks, canals and port basins. The city is named after the dam in the peat river Rotte – Rotter-dam – close to the estuary of the river Nieuwe Maas (New Meuse) and the present-day Schiedamsedijk. Out of the medieval fishing village around that dam, the Waterstad (Water City) was constructed outside the dykes for additional port and trading activities. The Leuvehaven, dug around 1600, was the first artificial harbour in a long series of ever larger port basins for ever larger seagoing vessels. In the days of the Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (United East India Company – VOC) and the West-Indische Compagnie (West India Company – WIC), sailing cargo ships entered and left the Waterstad. With their own fleet, trading posts and plantations in the East and the West, the companies laid the foundation for global trade. On Joan Blaeu’s bird’s eye view of the Rotterdam Stadsdriehoek (Inner City Triangle), for example, this shipping traffic is graphically depicted. The Leuvehaven was situated on the western edge, where at the end of the eighteenth century the Van Nelle company was established. At that time, the connection with the North Sea was still effected via the natural, but continuously silting up, Meuse estuary.
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Map dating from 1512, with at its centre
Map of Rotterdam from Joan Blaeu’s
the Delfshavense Schie, dug in 1389.
1652 Toonneel der Steden van de Vereenigde Nederlanden (Theatre of the Towns of the United Netherlands).
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