A Bell Tower in The Netherlands

A 3 dimensional tower on a 2 dimensional façade

Van der Laan’s first assignment was the design of a small chapel in Baarle-Nassau in 1928. He wanted to integrate a three-dimensional tower volume on a two-dimensional facade.

He found the solution in the superposition of the two: the carrying facade and the carried tower are expressed through the buttresses. They serve as a yardstick to read the whole facade.

From the smallest ornament, the buttress, to the whole facade; everything is hierarchically interrelated through 3:4.

2-dim part of the facade : tower

4 : 3

The tower again is divided by

lantern : roof

4 : 3

III

The lantern again is divided by

the position of the window into

4 : 3

The part of the tower above the plane of the facade is 1 : 7 of the whole. In this way, it becomes an important hinging point to understand the whole. It also defines the depth of the tower.

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