Rietveld pavilion

Gerrit Rietveld

Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, Houtkampweg 6

1954 – 1955 (1964 – 1965 & 2010)

Rietveld pavilion

Two years ago, I visited the Kröller-Müller Museum in the Netherlands. Not only did I discover a Berlage castle there, but also a pavilion designed by Gerrit Rietveld. The building is not registered as a monument! But everyone agrees that it is. The design dates from 1955 and was intended as a temporary construction for the third international sculpture exhibition in Sonsbeek park in Arnhem. It was given the name: the Sonsbeek Pavilion. It was dismantled after the expo.

Rietveld about his pavilion

The empty space and the light determine the value of the architecture in, around and between the boundaries, which are only there to determine the space.

Reconstruction 1

The pavilion was rebuilt in 1964 – 1965 in Otterlo in the Kröller-Müller Museum. The reconstruction was intended as a tribute to Rietveld. It was therefore given the new name “Rietveld Pavilion”. The first exhibition that took place in the pavilion was that of Barbara Hepworth. But it remained a design for a temporary construction.

Reconstruction 2

Unfortunately it was in very poor condition a few years ago and it was dismantled and rebuilt in 2010. They used contemporary materials with the appearance / texture of the materials that Rietveld originally used. If it was possible, the same materials were used. The restoration architect Bertus Mulder has ensured that the “new reconstruction” is less maintenance-sensitive and has greater durability than its predecessors.