Jacobus Oud

Jacobus Johannes Pieter Oud
Born (1890-02-09)9 February 1890
Purmerend, Netherlands
Died 5 April 1963(1963-04-05) (aged 73)
Wassenaar, Netherlands
Nationality Dutch
Occupation Architect
Buildings

Weissenhof Estate

Kiefhoek Housing Development

Jacobus Johannes Pieter Oud, commonly called J. J. P. Oud (9 February 1890 – 5 April 1963) was a Dutch architect.[1] His fame began as a follower of the De Stijl movement.

Oud was born in Purmerend, the son of a tobacco and wine merchant. As a young architect, he was influenced by Berlage, and studied under Theodor Fischer in Munich for a time. He worked together with W.M. Dudok in Leiden, which is where he also met Theo van Doesburg and became involved with the movement De Stijl.

Between 1918 and 1933, Oud became Municipal Housing Architect for Rotterdam. During this period when many laborers were coming to the city, he mostly worked on socially progressive residential projects. This included projects in the areas of Spangen, Kiefhoek and the Witte Dorp.[1] Oud was one of a number of Dutch architects who attempted to reconcile strict, rational, 'scientific' cost-effective construction technique against the psychological needs and aesthetic expectations of the users. His own answer was to practice 'poetic functionalism'.

Gallery house at Weissenhof Estate designed by J. Oud

In 1927, he was one of the fifteen architects who contributed to the influential modernist Weissenhof Estate exhibition.[1] In America Oud is perhaps best known for being lauded and adopted by the mainstream modernist movement, then summarily kicked out on stylistic grounds. As of 1932, he was considered one of the four greatest modern architects (along with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Walter Gropius and Le Corbusier), and was prominently featured in Philip Johnson's International Style exhibition. Johnson maintained a correspondence with Oud, tried to help him get work, commissioned a house for his mother (never built), and sent him socks and bicycle tires.[2] In 1945, after the end of World War II allowed photographs of Oud's 1941 Shell Headquarters building in The Hague to be published in America, the architectural press sarcastically condemned his use of ornament ("embroidery") as contrary to the spirit of modernism.[1]

After World War II, Oud designed the Dutch National War Monument in Amsterdam and the monument of the Military War Cemetery Grebbeberg. By then, he had mostly let go of any Stijl influences. He continued to take a highly individualistic stance against mainstream modernism. He designed projects such as the Spaarbank in Rotterdam, office-building De Utrecht in Rotterdam and the Children's health-centre in Arnhem (Bio-herstellingsoord).

Oud's brother, Pieter Oud was mayor of Rotterdam.

Oud died in 1963 at the age of 73 in Wassenaar.

Chronology of works

Café de Unie, Rotterdam (1925)

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Sennott, R. Stephen (2004). Encyclopedia of 20th Century Architecture. New York: Fitzroy Dearborn.
  2. ↑ Speaks, Michael; Hadders, Gerard (ed.): Mart Stam’s Trousers: Stories from behind the Scenes of Dutch Moral Modernism, 010 Publishers, 1999

Further reading

Media related to Jacobus Oud at Wikimedia Commons

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