One of our weekend adventures in Amsterdam was to visit Het Schip (the ship) a museum dedicated to the Amsterdam School. The Amsterdam School was an architectural movement in the early 1900s that led to a lot of unique buildings in the city, just at the time that the population was growing rapidly and desperately needed more housing.
One of the admirable things about this movement was that it was very focused on social housing, so creating housing for lower income families and individuals in the city, while also fostering a sense of community and focusing on organic, natural forms in architecture. The results are that many of the buildings (some of them still social housing to this day) created beautiful spaces for people to live while also addressing social and housing issues.
The Amsterdam School movement extended beyond architecture to include design in furniture and other household items, like the clock and lamp in the photos, and also in typeface. It reminded me a lot of some art deco movements.
I have a much stronger appreciation now as we zoom through the streets of Amsterdam on our bikes and I notice the influences of this movement.
