Piet Zwart belongs to the record of architecture as a figure whose buildings outlasted the taste that commissioned them.
The record lists Piet Zwart as Dutch typography designer, architect, photographer and industrial designer (1885-1977).
Piet Zwart was born at Zaandijk in 1885. His recorded nationality is Kingdom of the Netherlands. He trained at Rijksschool voor Kunstnijverheid Amsterdam and Delft University of Technology.
Modernism rejected ornament and historical style, arguing that a building should express its structure and its function - a claim contested ever since.
He is recorded as photographer, typographer and industrial designer.
His work is associated with de stijl.
His best-known building is Bruynzeel kitchen. Architecture is the art that cannot be avoided: people live inside the argument.
Recognition followed: Quellinus award, David Röellprijs and H.N. Werkman Award.
That the work was built in Kingdom of the Netherlands shaped it: climate, materials, planning law and who holds the budget all decide what can actually be built.
Piet Zwart died in 1977, aged 92. The buildings remain, still in use by people who never knew the name - which is the particular afterlife architecture offers.
Achievements
- Notable work: Bruynzeel kitchen
- Quellinus award
- David Röellprijs
- H.N. Werkman Award
- Movement: De Stijl
- Trained at Rijksschool voor Kunstnijverheid Amsterdam and Delft University of Technology
