Albert Aalbers
Encyclopedia
Dutch people
The Dutch people are an ethnic group native to the Netherlands. They share a common culture and speak the Dutch language. Dutch people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in Suriname, Chile, Brazil, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the United...
architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
who created elegant villas, hotels and office buildings in Bandung
Bandung
Bandung is the capital of West Java province in Indonesia, and the country's third largest city, and 2nd largest metropolitan area in Indonesia, with a population of 7.4 million in 2007. Located 768 metres above sea level, approximately 140 km southeast of Jakarta, Bandung has cooler...
, Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
under Dutch colonial rule
Dutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies was a Dutch colony that became modern Indonesia following World War II. It was formed from the nationalised colonies of the Dutch East India Company, which came under the administration of the Netherlands government in 1800....
in the 1930s. Albert Aalbers worked in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
between 1924 and 1930 and then migrated to the Dutch Indies after which he returned to the Netherlands in 1942 due to World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and political circumstances following Indonesian independence. During his stay in Bandung, in a period when the city was dubbed the city of architecture laboratory, a number of his buildings were considered architectural masterpieces. Aalbers' style was inspired by expressionist
Expressionist architecture
Expressionist architecture was an architectural movement that developed in Europe during the first decades of the 20th century in parallel with the expressionist visual and performing arts....
Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures and completed 500 works. Wright believed in designing structures which were in harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture...
and modernist
International style (architecture)
The International style is a major architectural style that emerged in the 1920s and 1930s, the formative decades of Modern architecture. The term originated from the name of a book by Henry-Russell Hitchcock and Philip Johnson, The International Style...
Le Corbusier
Le Corbusier
Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, better known as Le Corbusier , was a Swiss-born French architect, designer, urbanist, writer and painter, famous for being one of the pioneers of what now is called modern architecture. He was born in Switzerland and became a French citizen in 1930...
. In Bandung, the DENIS bank (the present-day Bank Jabar) in Braga Street
Braga Street
Braga Street is a small street in the center of Bandung, Indonesia, which was famous in the 1920s as a promenade street. Chic cafes, boutiques and restaurants with European ambiance along the street had made the city to attain the Paris of Java nickname...
and the Savoy Homann Hotel
Savoy Homann Bidakara Hotel
The Savoy Homann Bidakara Hotel is a historic luxury four stars hotel located on Asia Afrika Street, Bandung, Indonesia. It was built in 1939 replacing the 19th century Homann Hotel. Designed by the Dutch architect Albert Aalbers, the hotel features art deco exterior and interior, and historic...
(last renovated by Aalbers) in Asia-Afrika Street, still carry Aalber's ocean wave ornamentation.
Early life
Born on 13 December 1897 in RotterdamRotterdam
Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...
, the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, Albert Aalbers was the youngest son of Theo Aalbers and Johanna Buis. Between 1910 and 1918, Aalbers studied architecture at the Rotterdam Academy of Visual Arts and Techniques. At that time Dutch architecture was highly influenced by the expressionist
Expressionist architecture
Expressionist architecture was an architectural movement that developed in Europe during the first decades of the 20th century in parallel with the expressionist visual and performing arts....
movement due to popular expressionist artists, including the painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
Willem de Kooning
Willem de Kooning
Willem de Kooning was a Dutch American abstract expressionist artist who was born in Rotterdam, the Netherlands....
who also studied in the same school.
In 1923, Albert Aalbers and his brother, Theo, established the Gebroeder Aalbers architecture office in Rotterdam. Their projects ranged from offices to villas. The famous American architect, Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures and completed 500 works. Wright believed in designing structures which were in harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture...
, influenced their works; the Villa Dijkendam—owned by Albert Aalbers' future father-in-law's family—is one such example of a building inspired by Wright's works.
Migrating to the Dutch Indies
Hengelo
Hengelo is a municipality and a city in the eastern Netherlands, in the province of Overijssel. The city lies along the motorways A1/E30 and A35 and it has a station for the International Amsterdam – Hannover – Berlin service.-Traffic and transport:...
, in the east of the Netherlands. He married Anna Marie Philipina Lieuwen in 1928 and the couple migrated to the Dutch Indies. At the beginning of their stay, Albert Aalbers worked in a contractor
General contractor
A general contractor is responsible for the day-to-day oversight of a construction site, management of vendors and trades, and communication of information to involved parties throughout the course of a building project.-Description:...
's office owned by J. Bennink in Sukabumi
Sukabumi
Sukabumi is a city surrounded by the regency of the same name in the highlands of West Java, Indonesia, about south of the national capital, Jakarta....
, West Java
West Java
West Java , with a population of over 43 million, is the most populous and most densely populated province of Indonesia. Located on the island of Java, it is slightly smaller in area than densely populated Taiwan, but with nearly double the population...
.
In 1930 the Aalbers family moved to Bandung
Bandung
Bandung is the capital of West Java province in Indonesia, and the country's third largest city, and 2nd largest metropolitan area in Indonesia, with a population of 7.4 million in 2007. Located 768 metres above sea level, approximately 140 km southeast of Jakarta, Bandung has cooler...
, a few kilometers east of Sukabumi. At that time, the Dutch East Indies
Dutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies was a Dutch colony that became modern Indonesia following World War II. It was formed from the nationalised colonies of the Dutch East India Company, which came under the administration of the Netherlands government in 1800....
government was planning to move the colonial capital from Batavia (present-day Jakarta
Jakarta
Jakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Officially known as the Special Capital Territory of Jakarta, it is located on the northwest coast of Java, has an area of , and a population of 9,580,000. Jakarta is the country's economic, cultural and political centre...
) to Bandung. The plan was never realized although it transformed Bandung into a city of new European ambience, including its built environment. Several Dutch architects, including Thomas Karsten
Thomas Karsten
Herman Thomas Karsten was a Dutch engineer who gave major contributions to architecture and town planning in Indonesia during Dutch colonial rule. Most significantly he integrated the practice of colonial urban environment with native elements; a radical approach to spatial planning for Indonesia...
, Henri Maclaine-Pont, J Gerber and C.P.W. Schoemaker
Wolff Schoemaker
Charles Prosper Wolff Schoemaker was a Dutch architect who designed several distinguished Art Deco buildings in Bandung, Indonesia, including the Villa Isola and Hotel Preanger. He has been described as "the Frank Lloyd Wright of Indonesia," and Wright had a considerable influence on Schoemaker's...
, were actively involved designing and renovating buildings throughout the city. Aalbers saw this as a good opportunity and he started to work as a freelance architect in the city. Later he and his friend, Rijk de Waal, opened a new firm, the Aalbers en De Waal.
Artworks
In 1935 the Aalbers en De Waal office received a contract to design an office building for the DENIS Bank (De Eerste Nederlandsch-Indische Spaarkas or the First Dutch-Indies Savings). Aalbers used steelSteel
Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
materials for the building structure and concrete
Concrete
Concrete is a composite construction material, composed of cement and other cementitious materials such as fly ash and slag cement, aggregate , water and chemical admixtures.The word concrete comes from the Latin word...
floors, but he designed the horizontal side with smooth curves as if the materials were made from plastic. As a point of visual contrast, Aalbers put a lift tower in the middle of the building, higher than the six rounded platforms. This articulation point of vertical tower against the horizontal smoothness provides an impression of disrupting the elasticity.
Rounded façades with mainly purely decorative non-functional elements are similar to the Amsterdam School
Amsterdam School
The Amsterdam School is a style of architecture that arose from 1910 through about 1930 in The Netherlands...
style, but Aalbers was a follower of the International style
International style (architecture)
The International style is a major architectural style that emerged in the 1920s and 1930s, the formative decades of Modern architecture. The term originated from the name of a book by Henry-Russell Hitchcock and Philip Johnson, The International Style...
or modernist architecture that believed form should simply follow function and eschew such decoration. One pioneer of modernist architecture, Le Corbusier
Le Corbusier
Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, better known as Le Corbusier , was a Swiss-born French architect, designer, urbanist, writer and painter, famous for being one of the pioneers of what now is called modern architecture. He was born in Switzerland and became a French citizen in 1930...
, famous for facades of open space, inspired Aalbers in his designs for the interior of the DENIS bank. The ground floor contains a staircase with glass window leading to a public place, while the second floor is used as offices with large terraces
Terrace (building)
A terrace is an outdoor, occupiable extension of a building above ground level. Although its physical characteristics may vary to a great degree, a terrace will generally be larger than a balcony and will have an "open-top" facing the sky...
facing Naripan street.
The DENIS bank design was highly appreciated after which their office received another contract in 1936 to redesign the famous hotel in Bandung, the Savoy Homann Hotel. The hotel was built in 1880 and had been the major accommodation for the wealthy. F Van Es Jr., the hotel owner, asked Aalbers to renovate the hotel with a similar elastic impression as in the DENIS bank. The ocean wave facade and the vertical tower in the middle thus decorate the hotel's exterior, while Aalbers kept the colonial classical style for the interior. The hotel was reopened in 1939 and became internationally renowned. Several Hollywood artists have stayed in the hotel, including Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
and Mary Pickford
Mary Pickford
Mary Pickford was a Canadian-born motion picture actress, co-founder of the film studio United Artists and one of the original 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
.
On the recommendation of Van Es Jr., Aalbers' office received more contracts to design hotels. He renovated the hotel lobby of the Grand Hotel Lembang at Lembang
Lembang
Lembang is a town in the province of West Java in Java, Indonesia. The population is 183,300.Lembang is situated between 1,312 and 2,084 above sea level. Its highest point is on top of Tangkuban Perahu Mt...
, a hillside village north of Bandung. He also designed a new hotel, the Grand Hotel Ngamplang at Garut
Garut
Garut is a town in the West Java province of Indonesia and is the capital of the Garut Regency. It is located about 75 km to the southeast of the major city of Bandung.-History:...
, and a resort hotel in the middle of the Pangalengan
Pangalengan
Pangalengan is a Subdistrict in the Bandung Regency, Indonesia. It is located south of the major West Java city of Bandung.Main industries of the Pangalengan district include dairy farming and tourism, the latter arising from the popularity of the many traditional villages and natural attractions...
tea
Tea
Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by adding cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant to hot water. The term also refers to the plant itself. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world...
plantation in the south of Bandung.
Apart from designing office and hotel, Aalbers was known for his unique villa
Villa
A villa was originally an ancient Roman upper-class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became small farming compounds, which were increasingly fortified in Late Antiquity,...
designs. He designed three identical villas at Juanda Street, known as "the locomotive", in 1937, which were built as a promotion for the new residential area in the north of Bandung. A unique character inside each of the villa is a stair
Stairway
Stairway, staircase, stairwell, flight of stairs, or simply stairs are names for a construction designed to bridge a large vertical distance by dividing it into smaller vertical distances, called steps...
room as an entrance to the asymmetric villa. During his period in Bandung between 1931–1942, Aalbers designed twelve identical villas at the Pager Gunung Street (1939), fourteen houses at Haji Hasan Street (1940) and the three-colors (de driekleur) villa at Juanda Street.
Japanese occupation and later life
The Three-colors Villa was his last work in Indonesia. The Netherlands was on the brink of the World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and the Dutch Indies was occupied
Japanese Occupation of Indonesia
The Japanese Empire occupied Indonesia, known then as the Dutch East Indies, during World War II from March 1942 until after the end of War in 1945...
by Imperial Japan. The Japanese Occupation Army
Imperial Japanese Army
-Foundation:During the Meiji Restoration, the military forces loyal to the Emperor were samurai drawn primarily from the loyalist feudal domains of Satsuma and Chōshū...
sent Aalbers and his family to the Dutch intern camp in Cimahi
Cimahi
Cimahi is a city located west of Bandung, West Java, Indonesia in the Bandung Metropolitan Area. The city is a major textile producer exporter, and is host to several military education facilities....
and then were transferred to the Jatinegara
Jatinegara
Jatinegara is a subdistrict of East Jakarta, Jakarta, Indonesia. The boundaries of Jatinegara are Bekasi Barat Raya - Bekasi Timur Raya - I...
camp in Jakarta. Even during his captivity he drew many sketches, including his dream of having a villa in a tropical environment with mountains in the background.
In 1946, Aalbers, his wife and his two daughters moved to Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
. He opened a new architecture office with the name of 'Albers en De Waal, Architecten, Amsterdam-Bandoeng'. He put 'Bandoeng' in the name as a wish that someday he would be able to return to Bandung. His hope wasn't realized due to poor health and the unstable political circumstances in Indonesia
Indonesian National Revolution
The Indonesian National Revolution or Indonesian War of Independence was an armed conflict and diplomatic struggle between Indonesia and the Dutch Empire, and an internal social revolution...
.
Albert F. Aalbers died in 1961. Much of his work still stands in Bandung, such as the DENIS bank and the Savoy Homann Hotel. Some villas he designed have been destroyed during the war and also damaged due to subsequent renovations.
External links
- Netherland's Institute of Architecture: Albert Aalbers Profile in DutchDutch languageDutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
. - Bandung Heritage: Vila Tiga Warna