Liane Lefaivre, Ingeborg de Roode (ed.). In cooperation with Erik Schmitz and Anja Novak. Foreword by Rudi Fuchs

Aldo van Eyck
The playgrounds and the city

NAi Publishers in cooperation with the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam

Exhibition in the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, 15 June - 8 September, 2002.

Aldo van Eyck (1918-1999) owes his reputation to his activities for CIAM, Team 10, and the Forum group, and as an architect for, among other commissions, the Burgerweeshuis and the Huberthuis in Amsterdam. A less well-known part of his oeuvre, though just as important, consists of the more than 700 playgrounds that Van Eyck designed between 1947 and 1978 for Amsterdam. All over the city centre and in the new suburbs drab squares, street corners, vacant plots, public gardens and courtyards were transformed into playgrounds for children. This publication shows how the Amsterdam playgrounds reflect Van Eyck's theories about 'space' and 'place' and his view of children, as well as how he drew his inspiration for their design from the clear-cut compositional techniques of abstract art. With photography of Emmy Andriesse, Maria Austria, Eva Besnyö, Cas Oorthuys and others