Roof for the body and view for the mind

I was shocked by some news on February 5, 2024. I read that Doornburgh Estate Foundation is ceasing its activities. It has been a foundation with an incredibly interesting program at the intersection of art and science. It is located in an impressive location, Doornburgh Estate in Maarssen, with a former monastery along the Vecht River. The building, the garden with sculptures, and the restaurant fortunately remained open to the public until June 30, 2024. As of July 1, the new owners are Nynke Hofman and Ger Timmens. They, together with the Society for the Art of Living, will add a new chapter to the history of this special estate and priory. We are curious to see what the future holds. We are pleased to present the recent history for you.

The foundation Buitenplaats Doornburgh was established in 2018 to provide a program for the former Emmaus priory and the estate to make this unique place accessible to the public. We have visited Doornburgh Estate several times and conclude that the foundation has done fantastic work. Much has been achieved: exhibitions and performances, the restaurant 'De Zusters' (which translates as ‘The Sisters’ and uses everything that grows and blooms on the grounds), a residency for artists and scientists, and a delightful audio tour called 'The Inner Workings of the Estate' which provides insight into the history and future of the estate. The NRP Academy's training for the sustainable re-use of the existing built environment - with which I have been involved for ten years - often used the priory as a location to introduce new students to the challenges of repurposing and transformation. 

The Buitenplaats Doornburgh Foundation was established at the behest of the new owners of this place: the Meyer Bergman Heritage Group. This investor/developer, known for the Westergasfabriek in Amsterdam and Palace Soestdijk (former living quarter of the royal family), purchased the entire estate from the Regular Canonesses of the Holy Sepulcher in 2016 with the aim of creating a new life for this cultural heritage. At first glance, this seems like an obvious place to redevelop: a beautiful old country house from the 18th century in a park-like setting along the Vecht River. In 1637, Joan Huydecoper had the country estates Doornburgh, Elsenburg, Vechtleven, and Somersbergen built on these grounds; but only the Doornburgh Estate now remains. Yet there is more on this property. People walking through the park, usually starting from the gate on the street at Diependaalsedijk in Maarssen, pass the mansion to the baroque gate (installed in 1684 by Willem Pietersen van Zon) and walk towards the Vecht river. But they just might miss the specialness of this place. That is, namely, the former priory of Emmaus of the Regular Canonesses of the Holy Sepulcher.

What makes this building so special? There are people who describe the building as a brick shoebox, completely out of place in this location. Despite this, it became a municipal monument in 2013 and was placed in the top 90 of the Dutch Reconstruction Protection Program 1959-1965. In 2016, the priory became a national monument, a status which the original country house already had for quite some time. The priory is a building from the ‘Bossche School’ that has remained virtually in its original state. Most buildings in this architectural style are churches and residential buildings. Unfortunately, many of the churches have already been demolished (or are slated for demolition), making it even more important that the priory was granted monument status.

The Bossche School is an architectural style developed by the Benedictine monk Hans van der Laan (1904-1991), commonly known as Dom van der Laan. The architect learned the trade from Professor Granpré Molière at the Technical University in Delft. Dom van der Laan aimed "that architecture should not only be about making facades, nor solely about designing well-functioning buildings. The architect's task thus became to create spaces tailored to the human experience, or rather: delineated spaces that provide not only safety but also shelter, tranquility, and order - he considered all these qualities as basic human needs." For years, he worked on the principles underlying this style. The principle he discovered was a system of proportions, the so-called plastic ratio. It is based on the golden ratio, but in three dimensions. The essence of this number is that the dimensions are perceptible. "Spaces become perceptible to people only when there are clearly visible delineations in the form of massive elements. By precisely placing (measuring) these massive elements according to the plastic number, built interior spaces could emerge that do more than provide shelter for the body; the spaces could also be calming for the mind and moreover nourishing and enriching for the soul life." It goes too far to explain the plastic ratio in detail here. Essentially it is a mathematical formula discovered by the architect himself around 1928 and further developed in the 1940s. The ratios of 1:7 and 3:4 are important, which always lead to asymmetry. He created a usable toolkit made of wooden blocks for architects to visualise the ratios, which was then further developed by his ‘disciple’ Jan de Jong (more on that later).

The Regular Canonesses of the Holy Sepulcher form the female branch of the Chapter of the Holy Sepulcherand originally come from Spain. The canonesses in the Netherlands, Belgium, England, and Germany are of later origin. This Order purchased Doornburgh Estate in 1956, comprising thirty sisters at the time. They settled in the monumental country house, which was much too small. Two years later, they commissioned the construction of a new priory, a monastery with an independent prioress at the head. They had set their sights on the architect Dom van der Laan. He was the right architect to realise a monastic building. Dom van der Laan began the design but knew he did not have enough time to complete it. He had entered as a monk at the Abbey of Saint Benedictusberg in Mamelis and in 1956 he was tasked with completing the abbey designed by Dominikus Böhm (1880-1955). In the 1950s, Dom van der Laan taught about ecclesiastical architecture in 's-Hertogenbosch (hence the name Bossche School). One of his first students was Jan de Jongwhom he suggested could complete the design for the priory.

Let's first tell you a bit more about this architect. He was born in Lith (NL) in 1917. From 1933, he worked at Contractor van der Pas and at night school he obtained diplomas in carpentry and business knowledge. Ten years later, he became a construction supervisor and surveyor at the architectural firm of Frits Schütz. At this employer, he pursued his architectural education at the VBO (preparatory vocational education). On February 4, 1949, he started his own firm, being able to help the customers of his employer after the sudden death of Frits Schütz. Four years later, he completed his higher professional education (HBO), and in 1956, he attended the course in ecclesiastical architecture with Dom van der Laan. There he discovered that apparently, he had not understood the essence of his profession yet. Instead of focusing on constructing well-founded buildings, according to Dom van der Laan, it was about the realisation and experience of forms and spaces for people. He decided to discard his old approach and continue Dom van der Laan's vison. He temporarily downsized his architectural firm to delve into the plastic ratio. He expressed it as follows: "what I could, I no longer wanted. And what I wanted, I could not yet." He enriched Dom van der Laan's vision with his own. He drew inspiration from what he discovered and saw. He was inspired by the first major trip he made to Italy in 1956. Many trips to Italy, France, and Spain followed. In 1960, Dom van der Laan published an article in the Architectural Weekly about his ideas, just after his first work was realised: the crypt of the abbey church in Vaals (NL). It is remarkable that in that publication, he refers to three churches built by Jan de Jong: the Gerard Majella in Gemert, the Benedictus in Rijswijk, and the Holy Cross Finding in Odiliapeel. One could conclude that Dom van der Laan saw the buildings as the result of a joint vision (from buildings by Jan de Jong, pioneer of the plastic ratio, Hilde de Haan and Ids Haagsma, 2012).

Jan de Jong's own house best illustrates this vision. In 1948, he purchased a plot of land in Schaijk, located on the Rijksweg 56 from 's-Hertogenbosch to Grave. In 1949, he built his first house on this location. It consisted of a residence with an office wing perpendicular to it and a separate garage - a building in a traditionalist style with a tiled roof and typically Dutch farm building ends. After attending a course, he applied for a building permit to construct a gazebo or pavilion (designed according to the plastic ratio) in his backyard and to erect a wall to keep out the noise of the Rijksweg. Here, three-dimensional evidence was provided that architecture was not about buildings but about creating (residential) spaces. In 1961-1962, he applied for a building permit for the land behind the house. Here, a piece of forest was cleared for the realisation of the studio. It was a substantial building with an area as large as his house (without the office wing). The studio served as a research object and as an example for his clients. He used his own house to explore issues for his design of the priory in Maarssen. For example, the external gallery that turns the corner and the flat roof can be found in both his house and the priory. He slowly added buildings to his property: a light printing house (for which the garage had to make way), a stable, and further enclosing of the property.

Then came the moment when he considered demolishing his old residence. After discussions with Dom van der Laan, he decided to do just that. A very significant decision that brought about quite a few logistical challenges to continue living and working on the premises. Dom van der Laan called it 'A House from the Course' and with hindsight, it can be said that this was indeed the case for Jan de Jong. In 1968, the house was completed. In the mid-1970s, he created a courtyard with a monumental gate as the entrance to the property. Peripherally to the courtyard, he built a storage space, adjacent to a Marian chapel accessible from the outside via the sand road (Hemelrijk). In 1982, he expanded the studio into a full-fledged house for a daughter. The vegetable garden adjacent to this house was also walled. On the east side, an annex was built, even with a floor added. He later designed another building for an adult child next to the light printing house, but that was never realised.

Now you might wonder why we delve so deeply into the architect Jan de Jong and his own house. Weren't you supposed to learn more about the priory at the Doornburgh Estate? That's correct, but the designs of his house and the priory are intertwined. The house was used for experimentation; it was a laboratory. In short: through his house, we gain a better understanding of the priory. Upon entering Jan de Jong's house on the Rijksweg, you encounter one of the principles of the ‘Bossche School’: the architectural route. You never enter directly, never look directly at the entrance. Here, you are led along a wall next to the Rijksweg through a gate. You arrive at a courtyard, with the entrance to the office on the left. To enter the house, you must walk straight ahead, then make a left turn, and then you reach another gate that, again with a turn, leads you through a front courtyard with a pond to the front door. Each route is a step-by-step plan: a sequence of changing views and spatial experiences. Elements such as a garden bench, an agave, or a lamp also play a role. At this entrance door to the house, you encounter Jan de Jong's life motto, carved into the frame: 'Disponere Molem Condecet Strvctorem + Sapentem et ordinare spatia + Corpori Tectvm Menti Marare Strtvm' (It behooves a wise architect to arrange spaces so that they form a roof for the body and a view for the mind). 

The entrance hall leads you into a large living room, the heart of the building. Once in the space, looking back at the entrance, you see a wall with columns and behind it, four niches. The architect also referred to the living room as a hall, which is understandable given its dimensions. The space is 12.5m long. The space is divided in width by a row of columns on the street side, creating a living area and a spacious corridor. This row of columns has a different rhythm than the columns on the entrance side. As Hilde de Haan describes it: "The different rhythms...engage in a dance with each other. This leads to a harmonious, but also varied and exciting interplay…Thus, Jan de Jong created a spatial composition that was also perfectly habitable. An enormous low coffee table by the fireplace, a compact high dining table near the kitchen, and, on the wall towards the front courtyard, cozy niches for his own worktable, a modest library, a sewing corner, and a small place to have coffee."

In the spacious corridor, you'll find the staircase leading upstairs to the sleeping quarters. There, you experience a new rhythm behind the columns and with the openings to the seven bedrooms. Indeed, openings, not doors. To the dismay of the children, there were no doors in the bedrooms on the corridor side. A compromise was found by hanging curtains instead. The bedrooms resemble monastery cells, all furnished the same with custom-designed furniture: bed, couch, table, and chair. All these rooms have French doors opening onto the external gallery on the floor. This provided a wonderful play area for the children with views of the courtyard and the yard where animals were also kept. It's remarkable that the corridor and external gallery also provided direct access to the drafting room of the architectural firm.

The office part of this live-work house is accommodated in a mass perpendicular to the living room. There is a direct entrance behind the first gate outside to reach the reception room of the office. It is a relatively dark room, without distractions from the outside world and from activities in the drafting room above. All furniture in both the residential and work parts was designed by Jan de Jong. The design of the furniture also follows the plastic ratio. They are made up of transparent stained planks fastened with 3 screws per width of the plank. The lines of the screws create a regular pattern in the furniture. This is also evident where wood is used as wall or ceiling cladding. A great way to get a sense of this house is to watch a film made of the house in November 2019. In it, daughter Cathrien talks about her father giving the house a heart and her mother giving it a soul. The mother, Riek de Jong-de Groot, lived in the house until her death. She passed away on July 29, 2019, at the age of 101; that month she had visited Buitenplaats Doornburgh. She adapted to her husband's design and even wore clothes designed solely by her husband and made by herself. In the accompanying part of the film 'View for the Mind', you see Riek walking through the house. A beautiful bookhas also been published about Jan de Jong's house with photos by Kim Zwart.

A special element of the ‘Bossche School’ is the use of colour. Some people tend to say, the lack of colour, but nothing could be further from the truth. The founder of this use of colour is Wim van Hooff, colour advisor and decorative painter (1918-2002). His life and work are described in the book "Bonte grijzen" (Herman van Hooff, 2002). His father was a house painter; he was the only son. He took drawing and painting lessons at the Royal School for Useful and Visual Arts in 's-Hertogenbosch, which later became known as the Art Academy. In addition, he followed this training at the trade school in the same city to become a house painter. His father also engaged in restoration and decorative painting, such as painting marble imitations and applying decorations to furniture. This also attracted Wim, and as a 20-year-old, he took drawing lessons at the Royal School for Art, Technology, and Craft. He married Threes Ahrens 10 years later, whom he met through watercolour painting. Through Jan de Jong, Wim van Hooff became interested in the ‘Bossche School’, and it was Jan de Jong who asked Wim for colour advice for the churches he built in the second half of the 1950s. They made a trip to Italy together. From 1960 onwards, Wim van Hooff was also commissioned by Dom van der Laan and later by more architects of the ‘Bossche School’.

His work extended not only to church buildings but also residential houses, town halls, urban neighbourhoods, and historic town centres (including Oirschot, Deurne, Grave, and Ravenstein). He rowed reasonably against the tide because the buildings did not stand out due to their colour scheme. Wim learned from his father how to make paint himself. As beautifully stated in the book ‘Bonte Grijzen’: "... when he spoke of colour consultants who, in the service of paint factories, hurried from one project to another with a colour swatch in hand. 'They don't mix colours themselves,' Van Hooff complains, 'they don't take into account the architectural task and they are not from the profession…they don't have paint on their fingers."What made Van Hooff special is that he chose to delve deeply into the nature of colours and the influence they have on space and form. His practice-informed vision was based on the effect of colours (individually and in interaction) and the influence of factors such as light, quantity, structure, intensity, contrast, brightness, and gloss on colour perception. His vision seamlessly aligned with the ‘Bossche School’. As he said: "Humans must come to fruition in space, be able to feel comfortable in it, and also dress as colourful as they wish." For his colour advice, he distinguished three categories: fixed immovable architectural elements, mobile objects, and what the user wants to add. "A colour in architecture is no more significant than one tone in music. It's always about the interplay. An ensemble must be present in the mind before the first color can be set." The colours must serve the architecture and contribute to a harmonious environment. The collaboration between the architects and Van Hooff is remarkable. For example, the three-dimensional morphotheque made by Dom van der Laan to provide insight into the plastic number was coloured by Van Hooff by mixing thirty-six colors.

The words 'Bonte Grijzen' (colorful greys) is a good way to describe the colour scheme of both Jan de Jong's house and the priory, and words fall short to describe the colours. The colours still cause headaches today. The Foundation Hendrick de Keyser bought Jan de Jong's house in March 2017. On June 20, 2021, there was an open day, and fortunately, we were in time to register for it. As good connoisseurs of the priory, it was fantastic to experience the birthplace of this design. Some family members were present and provided explanations. Sadly, Jan de Jong's son, Koos, had passed away just a few days earlier. Together with his mother, Koos was the founder of the Jan de Jong Foundation and made it possible to sell the house to Hendrick de Keyser. He followed in his father's footsteps and studied architecture at the Technical Highschool in Eindhoven (now Technical University), but ultimately chose construction and building physics. During the open day, Hendrick de Keyser announced that the house would be restored in 2022. The overdue maintenance would be addressed, such as replacing windowsills (which had wood rot) and which then needed to be painted again. Van Hooff had mixed the paint on the spot at the time. He often made test patches and came back at different times to assess the colours. This made historical colour research difficult. In addition, the grey tones in colour swatches were too limited to approximate Van Hooff's colours. Ultimately, they had to fall back on the Sikkens Color Atlas with six thousand shades. Furthermore, with the help of paint pots still preserved in the house, colour statements, and an analysis by Sikkens, the colours were mixed empirically. Just as Van Hooff used to do it. You can imagine that this is even more complicated with the transparent grey stains of the interior.

Back to the priory, finally! In the garden of Doornburgh Estate, the Sisters had this priory built. The municipality and the community did not immediately embrace the arrival of the Catholic convent, especially not in such a historic setting. Financier Brenninkmeijer ultimately managed to force approval for the new construction at the ministerial level with Jan de Jong. A location was found on the site of the old tennis court. The complex is actually quite large but does not look large due to its layout. The entrance is situated on the side of the building and is - as you would expect with previous knowledge - not prominently present. A rather inconspicuous door with a grille for the peephole in an otherwise closed wall. The entrance leads you to a hall with four columns. Your attention is drawn by the daylight entering the hall from the inner courtyard via the gallery. Surrounding the inner courtyard is a wide gallery, a transitional space from indoors to outdoors. At two points, you can enter the inner courtyard from the gallery. The inner garden was designed by Karin Blom van Assendelft. From the centre (in a ratio of 3:4 in the space) stands an anchor, designed by Jan de Jong.

Processional corridors and several workrooms adjoin the gallery. The refectory and the chapel are spaces that fit into the mass of the main building. They are not directly accessed through the gallery but via a hallway. The chapel is equipped with a bell tower. The recreation room and the guest quarters are masses placed against the main mass. The chapter room is half inserted into the mass, accessed through the same hallway as the chapel. In the basement below the guest quarters are the kitchen and utility room with direct access to the forecourt, now functioning as a vegetable garden. Unlike all other spaces, the recreation room is more open to the outside and overlooks the forecourt. Both the guest quarters and the chapel have separate entrances for visitors; these entrances are located in the same wall as the main entrance. The visitor's entrance to the chapel leads you to the side aisle of the chapel, allowing you to sit separately from the Sisters during services. All furniture and lamps in the priory were designed by Jan de Jong. Here too, his own house served as a laboratory. It presents a calm image in all these different spaces; no reason for distraction. 

On the upper floor are the monastery cells, accessed by external galleries. The external galleries partly overlook the inner courtyard and partly the outside of the building. The gallery takes you past the high windows of the chapel. In this way, it was also possible for sick sisters to attend the service. The monastery cells remind you of the bedrooms in Jan de Jong's house, small spaces equipped with a bed, table, and chair. Here, however, with a washbasin between two wooden walls. It is difficult to describe all the spaces separately. Jan's drawings provide a better impression. Even better is to experience different spaces yourself, to see where your attention goes, and then to consider how the architect achieved that.

The architect aimed for utmost austerity, something that suited the congregation. Anything that was not strictly necessary was excluded, both in terms of necessary spaces and material choice. When the Sisters noticed that the benches were uncomfortably hard, they managed to have (firm) cushions placed on them. On December 3, 1964, at the laying of the cornerstone, Dom Hans van der Laan gave a lecture for the Sisters. In it, he pointed out a 'contradiction' in Jan de Jong's design. On the one hand, he aimed for extreme austerity in material choice and finishing, resulting in very low construction costs. But on the other hand, he was very 'lavish' with space: "all monastery spaces are generously sized, and most are accompanied by ancillary spaces ... and connected by corridors, galleries, and portals that seem superfluous from a purely functional standpoint." The reason for this contradiction, according to Dom van der Laan, was that the monastery was not just a dwelling but a 'sign' of the order: "... and if the house is a sign, then that must be apparent through its form. Forms can only speak to our understanding through their relationships...an interplay of inside and outside, of hollow and full, of open and closed".

Despite the end of the Doornburgh Foundation, you can still visit the estate and the priory. In the refectory and in the outdoor gallery, you can enjoy coffee, tea, and lunch, and you can book an architectural tour. Jan de Jong's house is also available for visits (by appointment). There seem to be only two possible reactions: either you love it or you don't. We clearly belong to the first group. Here you can experience what it's like to shut out the outside world, focus on yourself and your immediate surroundings in an environment and architecture made for that purpose.

2024