J.W.E. Buijs (1889-1961) The starting point for this oeuvre list is the archives of Buijs, which are present at The New Institute. In 1973, the archive of the architectural firm J.W.E. Buijs was acquired from its successor: the firm Lürsen & Van Haaren. Buijs' private archive was probably lost in World War II. At a later stage, the archive was supplemented by an acquisition from Mr. C. Rehorst. This addition consisted of documentation and photographic material for his monograph 'Jan Buijs, architect van de Volharding' (The Hague 1983). Jan Buijs was born on August 26, 1889 in Surakarta in the former Dutch East Indies. He was the son of a mechanical naval officer. In 1908, the family returned to the Netherlands (The Hague). This is where Jan Buijs would live except for a few brief interruptions until his death in 1961. In 1909 Jan Buijs went to study at the Technische Hogeschool in Delft. In 1919 he graduated as a structural engineer. In his Delft student days, he belonged to the so-called "Kwing-kwang-kwepele" group around Prof. T.K.L. Sluyterman, which included A.J. van der Steur, Gijs Friedhoff and Jan Plantenga. This was a circle of friends who kept in touch even after their student days, although their views on architecture were far from always in line. Jan Buijs counted himself among the progressives, who "prefer to look forward, rather than back. "1) Incidentally, he was portrayed as a withdrawn student, who preferred to work at home in peace. This characterization would also apply to the rest of his career. Jan Buijs began his career as an architect in Haarlem, where he was employed by the municipality from 1919-1924. The expansion of the Stedelijk Gymnasium there was his last and most extensive work. His preference for rectangular cube shapes with alternating horizontal and vertical accents was already apparent here. In Haarlem he met Joan B. Lürsen, who was employed as a draughtsman by Openbare Werken (Public Works). Although they only experienced each other for a short period - Lürsen had already left for The Hague at the end of 1919 - the foundations were laid in Haarlem for the many years of cooperation between Buijs and Lürsen. In 1919, Buijs received his first commissions for villas in Wassenaar, with Lürsen acting as intermediary. When Buijs established himself as an independent architect in The Hague in 1924, the collaboration between Buijs and Lürsen turned into a partnership. Buijs was usually the designer-designer and Lürsen the elaborator-constructor. Until 1955, Buijs and Lürsen continued to work together. In 1955, Buijs had to leave the firm due to ill health. In 1959 he was admitted to the Rudolf Steiner Clinic in The Hague, designed by himself. Jan Buijs died on October 19, 1961. At his cremation, Buijs was honored not only as a master builder, but also as an art lover. He owed this reputation as an art lover to his interest in contemporary art. He showed great interest in the young German Expressionist artists of the Blaue Reiter, Der Sturm and the Novembergruppe. Over the years he had accumulated a considerable art collection. Key figure in these art circles was Jacoba van Heemskerck. Through her, Buijs came in contact with the ideas of Rudolf Steiner. Although Buijs never became an anthroposophist himself, he did receive a number of commissions from the anthroposophical world, including the construction of the Rudolf Steiner Clinic in The Hague (1926-1928). The Goetheanum in Dornach near Basel had been the model for Buijs' design of this clinic. In doing so, he aligned himself with German expressionism. Although he later called this anthroposophical design a youthful sin commissioned by a childhood friend, in this way he simultaneously placed himself outside the modern movement of New Objectivity. Other commissions for anthroposophical buildings were indeed given a more modern look, such as the unfinished design for the Free School in The Hague (1926). Horizontal bands with factory-like windows in a flat facade defined the image. A similar work was the also unfinished Wilhelmina Drucker House (1926), for which several designs were made, ranging from a strongly plastic facade to a much tighter and simpler design that lacked the expressiveness of the first design. Buijs' most important work came from socialist circles, namely the building for cooperative De Volharding in The Hague (1927-1928). Completed six months after the opening of the Rudolf Steiner Clinic, this building was a great contrast. It gave rise to often very different views regarding the place of this building and of Buijs within the modern movements. The building consisted of a confluence of cubic volumes with great transparency. A skeleton of reinforced concrete and columns with supporting floors allowed the facades to be light and the partition walls flexible. The client's requirement was that the building provide as much opportunity as possible for illuminated advertising at night. An ingenious construction was designed for this purpose. Light boxes were built into the parapets, in which interchangeable letters could be attached. These were lit from the inside at night. In this way, the transparency of the building was taken full advantage of both day and night. In its construction and use of materials, but especially in its austere and functional interior, the building was in keeping with the trend of the New Objectivity. However, the exterior of the building was to be criticized by the supporters of the New Objectivity: the monumentality and the pronounced plasticity referred to De Stijl and to expressionism. Van Loghem dismissed De Volharding as 'decorative'.2) Shortly after the Volharding, Buijs - also called the architect of the S.D.A.P. - received another major commission from socialist circles: the design for a building of the Arbeiderspers on the Hekelveld in Amsterdam (1929-1931, demolished in1973). A sober, austere facade, consisting of columns and floors covered with glass and brick, concealed a large hall with plenty of light through a large skylight. The interior was characterized by exposed pipes, each of which had its own color. Functionalist and aesthetic considerations coincided in this way. On the front facade, an upward-sliding concrete style was placed as a canopy above the building. On this was printed in neon letters the advertising inscription "Het Volk," an almost two-dimensional elaboration of the client's wish, who would have liked a tower on top of the building. In addition to his "socialist" commissions, Buijs had a large number of commissions from private individuals to build villas and residential houses. His earliest commissions as an independent architect consisted of these. In these designs, too, a trend in stylistic development can be followed: from houses with influences of the Amsterdam School and F.L. Wright - such as the residences for A. Wulffraat (1920), W. van Goor (1920) and J. Vincent (1925) - to designs in which influences of De Stijl dominated, such as the cube-shaped residence for J. Maas (1925). Jan Buijs is generally seen as a transitional figure in Dutch architecture from movements such as Amsterdam School and De Stijl to The New Objectivity, as is also the case with Jan Wils. De Volharding can still be seen as his most important work. It earned him national and international fame, despite Van Loghem's criticism mentioned above. Notes 1) Ch. Rehorst, Jan Buijs architect van de Volharding ('s-Gravenhage 1983) p. 302. 2) J.B. van Loghem, Holland. Bouwen, bauen, bâtir, building. Nieuwe zakelijkheid, neues Bauen, vers une architecture réelle, built to live in (Amsterdam 1932).