The frame laid bare
The first modernists were
already advocating the rationalisation of techniques and the appropriateness of
the form for the function. These principles are supplemented, post-war, by the
notion of “construction openness”: devoid of a facing, the building’s
construction system becomes completely visible. Its layout in this way lets
itself be seen from the outside. The large glazed cells of this building each correspond to a duplex apartment. The concrete block walls just like the slabs of the floors remain visible in the façade.
The construction system of the Blankedelle church contributes to the building’s sober beauty. Two thin strips cut into the walls. One of them runs along the ceiling, which in this way appears to float, despite being made up of a solid slab on four concrete beams.
