W. Brown (1893-1971) Wieger Bruin enjoys little renown in architectural and urban planning history.1 This is partly due to Bruin's modest figure, but also to the "invisible" nature of his work, which consists largely of reconstruction and expansion plans. As a planner, Bruin was involved in the layout of the new Netherlands, first before World War II in the Wieringermeerpolder, and then also as a "reconstructionist" in numerous war-ravaged municipalities. Bruin has numerous buildings to his name, but he often left the large-scale, concrete implementation of his plans to other architects. The archive of Wieger Bruin is at the Netherlands Architecture Institute in Rotterdam and covers the period 1920-1969. Unfortunately, the archive has been damaged by fire, which means that not all documents and drawings are easily accessible. This complete oeuvre description of Bruin, is based on the updated placement list (2004) of the archive. The original list of old work numbers, included as an appendix to the inventory (see page 17), has been adhered to as consistently as possible, and supplemented or modified with new data where necessary. Gaps in the work list have arisen because old work numbers referred to written documents (correspondence, reports, supervision) and are therefore included as literature, or because several work numbers have been merged because they concern the same object. What follows is a brief characterization of Brown and his work, and a first attempt at a complete oeuvre and literature description. Biography Wieger Bruin was born on April 1, 1893 in Groningen, and died on June 12, 1971. After the five-year HBS he went to the Academy of Visual Arts in The Hague where he trained as a painter, followed by an evening study at the Architecture Department of the Rijksnormaalschool voor Tekenonderwijs in Amsterdam. After this he was employed by ir. J. Gratama & G. Versteeg, ir. A.R. Hulshoff (chef de bureau), ir. J. Gratama and Van Gendt (building Middendamterrein Amsterdam), among others. In 1923 he established himself as an independent architect at Keizersgracht 756 in Amsterdam, in 1956 he entered into an association with H.T. Vink (Wieger Bruin & Vink) and in 1961 with W. van der Kuile (Wieger Bruin, Vink & Van der Kuilen). Several people who would also make a name for themselves as architects or urban planners worked in Bruin's office for shorter or longer periods of time. Of these, S.J. van Embden is probably the best known.2 Bruin married an American. Career until World War II Brown's career as a designer spans two periods. In the first, running from about 1920 until World War II, he profiled himself as a "classical" architect designing villas and residential houses. After the war, Bruin concentrated mainly on the planning of North Holland. Brown's houses and villas from the 1920s are still characterized by a rural design and detailing that refers to the Amsterdam School style. These houses were built for the nouveau-riche who settled outside the big cities and sought housing that matched their desire to live 'outside'. Remarkably, Brown built a series of these houses in the eastern part of the Netherlands. They are characterized by low sloping thatched roofs with wolf ends, and seemingly randomly - or "naturally" - grouped building sections. Good examples of these country houses are villa Delden in Enschede from 1923 and villa Meyling in Hengelo from 1925. In the 1930s, under the influence of Granpre Molière, Bruin focused increasingly on the so-called "traditional" Dutch house, composed of high roofs covered with tiles, a strict facade design and brick walls. Of an entirely different and metropolitan allure is Brown's 1927 housing complex in Amsterdam's Transvaal neighborhood, which was part of the large-scale expansion of Amsterdam in the 1920s. Here came a beautifully designed complex of four blocks of three and four storeys high, built on behalf of the municipality. The wooden paneling on the end walls betrays Bruin's predilection for the country style. Even before the Second World War, Bruin was involved in numerous urban development (expansion) plans, at that time still a relatively new field. This mostly concerned somewhat smaller municipalities in North Holland (Hoorn, Anna Paulowna, Texel), which wanted to expand and where Bruin would remain in demand even after the war and into the 1960s, and the planning of the Haarlemmer and Wieringermeer polders. Wieger Bruin in World War II and Reconstruction In World War II, more than 70,000 homes were completely destroyed and most of the urban infrastructure was rendered unusable. Immediately after the capitulation of the Netherlands in 1940, reconstruction began on a small scale; after the war, major construction got underway. The starting point was to seek more or less connection with what was or had been there, without getting bogged down in 'excessive piety' for the lost heritage. Brown was involved in numerous municipalities, but his urban planning influence was most evident in the reconstruction of the battered city of Den Helder.3 Brown had been involved in the redevelopment of the naval city before the war, but after the bombardment of June 1940 he was recruited as a permanent advisor to the B & W as the design of a new plan for the center became urgent. Moreover, at the end of the war, Oud Helder (the old fishing village) was demolished by the occupiers, leaving Bruin to deal with two major projects within one city after the war. A characteristic feature is the collaboration between Bruin as urban planning supervisor, and often local architects who designed the actual housing. The new Den Helder eventually took shape only in the 1950s and 1960s, with Bruin's original views and plans often far from the mark. Apart from the Reconstruction, the most spectacular part of postwar Dutch spatial planning was undoubtedly the layout of the IJsselmeerpolders. Established in 1919, this project was carried out under the responsibility of the Dienst der Zuiderzeewerken and initially aimed to put agricultural business first. This was to be done as quickly and effectively as possible, which was reflected in the rectilinear layout of the polder land and villages: farmland with a clean and austere design. The first polder to be drained was the Wieringermeerpolder, where Bruin had already worked before the war under the supervision of Granpre Molièreire. The Northeast Polder followed in 1942, where, from 1949 to 1952, Bruin's work included the new village of Rutten. To ensure optimal access to this village, two intersecting main roads ran through the village. Houses were built in three of the four adjacent quadrants, while the fourth was used for green space. This layout was used in numerous new villages, but was not entirely without criticism. There were increasing doubts about the livability and effectiveness of these "cross-road villages," but Brown - and numerous others - managed to get his will through anyway.4 Architectural views and other pursuits In addition to being a planner, Wieger Bruin was active as a designer of individual and a highly varied typology of buildings. A characteristic feature is the unspoken nature of his architecture, in which, remarkably, a particular religion or ideology played almost no role. Brown never particularly explicitly expressed his views on the architectural debate in the postwar years, but it is clear that he belonged to the moderate, traditionalist camp. On the one hand, there were the contacts with and influence of Granpre Molière - the foreman of traditionalism in the 1950s - and, on the other, the formal language and use of materials in Bruin's designs themselves. Bruin was also involved in the Doorn apprenticeships and the reconstruction of Rhenen, which became the textbook example of traditionalist building.5 Moreover, Bruin's vision of Nagele, the only modernist-designed village in the Noordoostpolder, is characteristic of his work. Because of its vastness, it lacked the "coziness and compactness" of a real village and looked more like an American forest camp.6 Brown was active in other fields besides as a designer. For example, he served on numerous provincial advisory committees, advising on urban and rural redevelopment and expansion. These documents are also included in the archive. From 1947 to 1958, Bruin was an associate professor at Wageningen University, where he taught students how to designate the new land in the polders as agricultural land and put farming first, at a time when other architects were increasingly aware of the need for a new urban and recreational area.7 Conclusion Brown's work has remained largely inaccessible to many outsiders. This is partly due to his prominence as a planner, and partly to Brown's difficult to assess involvement and role in a project. This obscurity is all the more regrettable given that many of his architectural and urban designs have reached the critical age of fifty and will not escape the current wave of rehabilitation in the Netherlands. Exemplary of this is the demolition of six badly neglected porch flats and eight gallery flats in Nieuw Den Helder, built by Bruin in the period 1950-1970 in collaboration with the Public Works Department, for the benefit of the new Duinpark district.8 In time, other parts of the postwar district will be demolished. Bruin will then definitively go down in history as a versatile and grand, but invisible builder. Notes 1) The most complete and recent but still very brief biographical overview offers C. van der Wal, In Praise of Common Sense. Planning the Ordinary. A physical planning history of the new towns in the IJsselmeerpolders, Rotterdam 1997, p. 107. 2) J. van Geest, S.J. van Embden, Rotterdam 1996, p. 15. 3) For De Helder, see H. Helling, "Den Helder, naval city," in: K. Bosma, C. Wagenaar, A noiseless breakthrough: the history of architecture and urban planning during the occupation and reconstruction of the Netherlands, Rotterdam 1995, pp. 343-351. 4) See note 1, Van der Wal 1996, p. 107. 5) M. Kuipers, M. Willing (ed.), Toonbeelden van de wederopbouw: architectuur, stedenbouw en landinrichting van herrijzend Nederland, Zeist/Zwolle 2002, p. 20. 6) W. Bruin, "On the villages of the Northeast Polder," Forum, 1/2, 1955, p. 25. 7) For an impression of Bruin's work at the Agricultural College in Wageningen, see archive BRUX a131 at the NAI. 8) J. Tellinga, De Grote Verbouwing, Rotterdam 2004, pp. 74-81. Education: Academy of Visual Arts The Hague/;Architecture Department of the Rijksnormaalschool voor Tekenonderwijs Amsterdam/. Ancillary activities: H.B.O./teacher of architectural design/1937-1941 and 1945-1947;Agricultural College Wageningen/ extraordinary professor of architecture and urban planning/1947-1958;Bouwkundig Weekblad Architectura/editor and chairman/1927-1934;Raad voor de Stedebouw/member/1957-1968;Advisory Committee of North Holland Municipalities for building designs and expansion plans//;Office of the Commission/architect-leader/1925-1945;Genootschap Architectura en Amicitia/chairman/1930-1945;artists' resistance to the establishment of the Kultuurkamer/organization in hostage camp St. Michielsgestel/1943;College of Restoration of the University of Amsterdam/member/1945-1947;Central Commission for War or Peace Memorials/chairman/after 1945;Bond van Nederlandse Stedebouwkundigen/chairman/;Artist Resistance Foundation/chairman/1942-1945, after 1956