Cafe De Unie was designed by JJP Oud and built in 1925 in the city of Rotterdam. It bears all the characteristics of the movement "De Stijl" of which Oud was a member at that time. Destroyed during WW2, it was rebuilt in 1986.
About this creation
Welcome everyone! I'm Johannes Jacobus Pieter Oud, architect of Cafe De Unie. In 1925, after a client saw his own design rejected thrice by the Building Inspectorate, I designed this cafe for him while employed as the city's Municipal Architect. In those days it caused quite a bit of commotion...
The building was designed with a lifespan of only 10 years in mind. Using boards, cement rendering and glass I created a fragile looking facade which was basically one big advertisement. Built in between two very characteristic buildings I took great care to make sure the building could "hold it's own" in one of the busiest streets of the booming city of Rotterdam.
One of the goals was to make sure you could see the advertisement both from across the streets as well as when passing the building. In common with the manifest of De Stijl I used bright colors, different layers to increase the perception of depth and blended it all into a 3D Neo-Plastic painting.
This is how it used to be before that dreaded World War 2 with it's bombing of my beloved city ruined it all. People were quite shocked you know, claiming it didn't belong in a city. I guess my Dada joke was lost on them...
Fortunately lateron many people recognized the significance of this building and thus in 1986 it was rebuilt, in a diffent but equally fitting location, to once again amaze people with a blend of advertising, architecture and art never really surpassed.
