The Skyscraper Museum is devoted to the study of high-rise building, past, present, and future. The Museum explores tall buildings as objects of design, products of technology, sites of construction, investments in real estate, and places of work and residence. This site will look better in a browser that supports web standards, but it is accessible to any browser or Internet device.
VAN NELLE FACTORY
Brinkman and Van der Vlugt with Mart Stam
Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 1925 - 31
Photograph � Christopher Hall
Designed by architects Johannes Brinkman and Leendert Van der Vlugt with Mart Stam, the Van Nelle coffee, tea, and tobacco factory is known for its curved glass and steel fa�ade and glass bridges between its multi-storied buildings, exemplifying the Modern Movement in architecture. The company owner, Kees van der Leeuw was motivated by his theosophist beliefs, and sought to create a utopian workplace with light and air, and ergonomic furniture. Production moved from the upper to the lower floors, and used overhead conveyors to transfer finished products through the glass bridges to the warehouse. The framework of octagonal, reinforced concrete mushroom columns allowed for cantilevered floors to support the glass curtain wall, creating the transparent flush facade.
