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The complex of studio houses in the Zomerdijkstraat in Amsterdam is a seminal work in Dutch architecture of the thirties. Its architects, Zanstra, Giesen, and Sijmons, were members of Groep ’32, a group greatly influenced by the works of Le Corbusier. In their work, they strove after a combination of functional architecture and artistic elements, a combination clearly expresses in the studio houses. The building formed the first complex of studio houses to be realised in the Netherlands, and partly through the application of a steel frame was far ahead of its time. Many well-known artists, including Herman Kruyder, Charlotte van Pallandt, Jaap Wagemaker, Gerrit Jan van der Veen and Jan Wolkers, have lived and worked in these houses. This coming together of artists in the complex nurtured an artistic microclimate, with communal modeling evenings, joint exhibitions, and a powerful mutual influence. This publication enters exhaustively into the origins of the complex, and its reception by inhabitants and press alike. Besides a description of the different houses, space is allotted to the renovation recently carried out under the supervision of Bertus Mulder.
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