The De Stijl movement was founded in the Netherlands in 1917 with the goal of expressing universal concepts through simplified geometric forms, primary colors, and an emphasis on horizontals and verticals. Key characteristics included flat roofs, asymmetric designs, white or gray walls accented with primary colors in rectangular shapes. Furniture was designed as an extension of the architecture, using straight lines, planes, and geometric shapes. Decorative elements were limited, as the architecture itself was considered a work of art.

1. DE STIJL
Ar. S.H.R.Jawahar Benazir
Assistant Professor
School of Architecture & Interior Design
SRM University
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• De Stijl, or The Style, is an art
and design movement founded in
Holland by painters and architects
around 1917.
• The movement strives to express
universal concepts through
elimination, reduction,
abstraction, simplification, and a
dynamic asymmetrical balance
of rectangles, planes, verticals,
horizontals, the primary colors,
and black, white, and gray.
• Designers formulate a new language and vocabulary for architecture.
• To do this, they take the traditional house apart, analyze it like an object, abstract
it to eliminate traditional references, and then reassemble it in a new way.
• The new form emphasizes the cube. It is not a solid box, but instead opens up
from outside to inside with solid and void relationships established through flat
planes.
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Henny House, Robert Vant Hoff
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Schroder House
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ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTERISTICS
• Flat roof, asymmetry, geometric forms, white or gray walls with details
highlighted by primary colors.
• Houses for individuals are the most important.
• Compositions generally emphasize the separation of planes, the application of
primary colors, and the spatial relationship of solids to voids.
• Rectangular shapes define the geometric repetition of windows, doors, and
blocks of color.
• Window sizes vary on an individual building from large to small. They may be
arranged in patterns or one unit on a large wall.
• Flat roofs are typical, and distinctly different from other structures.
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Interior of the Schroder House
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Interior view of the Schroder House
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FURNITURE
• Furniture and decorative arts are conceived
as one with the architecture and interior
design.
• Designers similarly emphasize structure,
construction, proportion, and the balance
between solid and void relationships.
• They carefully place individual parts to
develop visual balance and harmony so that
all parts are appreciated alone as well as in
context with the whole furniture piece.
• Chairs and tables are the most important
conveyors of concepts.
• Furniture complements the architectonic
character of an interior through its emphasis
on straight lines, rectangular planes, and
geometric forms. The Red & Blue Chair
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The Red & Blue Chair, side Table & Bed
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Zig Zag Chair Crate Chair by Rietvald
Pendant Light
by Rietvaald
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Rietvald Sideboard
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SYMBOLS & MOTIFS DECORATIVE ARTS
There are no decorative motifs in Decorative arts are limited in De
De Stijl design. Instead, beauty Stijl houses. Artwork is prohibited
evolves from simple, unadorned because the house itself is a piece
surfaces arranged in geometric of art. Few designers create
relationships and from construction decorative arts.
detailing.
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Interior of a Café showing Decorative Art
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Decorative Art Painting
Café showing Decorative Art
BAUHAUS TO POST MODERNISM – DE STIJL