Writersblog

Salomon Kroonenberg

Salomon Kroonenberg, Dutch writer

The Dutch programme at the International Book Fair in Beijing was cunn... >>> read more

Henk Pröpper

Henk Pröpper, Director Dutch Foundation for Literature

In two weeks’ time, the official opening of one of the largest b... >>> read more

Kai Kang

Kai Kang, Journalist China Reading Weekly

Dear Dutch publishers. The book fair is over. Perhaps you’ll now... >>> read more

Ingrid and Dieter Schubert

Ingrid and Dieter Schubert, Dutch illustrators

The days are full and long. We are incessantly bombarded with impressi... >>> read more

Michele Hutchison

Michele Hutchison, Editor De Arbeiderspers

Arriving on the stand on the first day, I’d asked a Chinese visi... >>> read more

Michele Hutchison

Michele Hutchison, Editor De Arbeiderspers

Big excitement today since we were finally meeting with Songyu from Fl... >>> read more

Ingrid and Dieter Schubert

Ingrid and Dieter Schubert, Dutch illustrators

It’s now the third day, and the first one with plenty of sun. Un... >>> read more

Kai Kang

Kai Kang, Journalist China Reading Weekly

What a great opportunity to learn about the Dutch literature for Chine... >>> read more

Salomon Kroonenberg

Salomon Kroonenberg, Dutch writer

A duck flies to and fro over the vast expanses of world ocean, despera... >>> read more

Michele Hutchison

Michele Hutchison, Editor De Arbeiderspers

‘In the era of browsing, we provide reading.’ - Slogan see... >>> read more

Michele Hutchison

Michele Hutchison, Editor De Arbeiderspers

The jewel in the crown of our collection of Arbeiderspers titles publi... >>> read more

Michele Hutchison

Michele Hutchison, Editor De Arbeiderspers

The Chinese publishers I have met during the course of my career, the ... >>> read more

Salomon Kroonenberg

Salomon Kroonenberg, Dutch writer

I have so far never been to a book fair. Nor do I know what to imagine... >>> read more

Kai Kang

Kai Kang, Journalist China Reading Weekly

Since 2006, I began writing about the Netherlands’ performance a... >>> read more

Henk Pröpper

Henk Pröpper, Director Dutch Foundation for Literature

Now that the fair is just round the corner, this is perhaps the moment... >>> read more

Michele Hutchison

Michele Hutchison, Editor De Arbeiderspers

The traffic in Beijing is horrendous, I’m sure the other blogger... >>> read more

Thomas Möhlmann

Thomas Möhlmann, Staff member Dutch Foundation for Literature

What an evening the poets and the approximately 200 onlookers present ... >>> read more


Hans Ibelings - European Architecture since 1890

Hans Ibelings - European Architecture since 1890

Towards the end of the nineteenth century European cities began to grow at an explosive rate, creating huge demand for public buildings. New city dwellers attracted by industry and commerce needed houses, schools, hospitals and libraries. Architects were no longer exclusively at the service of the church and local rulers; commissioned by swelling bureaucracies and public institutions, they designed their buildings accordingly.

At the same time the number of architects increased, making professional standards and training institutions essential. Hans Ibelings’ comprehensive study European Architecture since 1890 is the first book of its kind to extend the boundaries of Europe eastwards as far as the Ural mountains in the former Soviet Union and south-eastwards to Ankara in Turkey. It includes the history of post-war architecture in the Soviet Empire, filling the gaps created by ignorance of developments behind the Iron Curtain.

The examples presented in Ibelings’ richly illustrated book reveal that despite a limited exchange of ideas between East and West, outcomes were remarkably similar. Open spaces and modernistic styles prevailed, resulting in sprawling urban settlements and improved living conditions, both for the growing population of the capitalist West and for citizens of Eastern Europe’s socialist states.

Biography

Hans Ibelings is an architectural historian, writer and critic, and the author of several books about high-profile figures in Dutch architecture. His Supermodernism. Architecture in the Age of Globalization (1998), in which he looks at international developments, has been translated into English, Spanish, French and Italian. He is the founder and editor-in-chief of A10, a highly acclaimed and influential magazine of new European architecture.

Quotes

  • ‘Ibelings shows that many of the architectonic methods used to create the old landscapes, towns, villages, neighbourhoods and dwellings we love are still usable in the twenty-first century.’ – NRC Handelsblad