Aldo van Eyck Sculpture Pavilion in Sonsbeek Park & the Kroller Muller Museum

© Walter Herfst | Pavilion Reconstruction in the Kroller Muller Museum

In the first half of the 1960s, Dutch architect Aldo van Eyck worked on a commission for a sculpture pavilion in the Sonsbeek park to host sculptures of nearly thirty artists, including Brancusi, Arp, and Giacometti. Dismantled after a temporary one-year exhibition on view between 1965 and 1966, it was rebuilt in 2006 in the Kröller-Müller Museum garden in Hoenderloo, Netherlands.

Sculpture Pavilion Technical Information

• Architects: Aldo van Eyck
• Location: Gelderland, Netherlands
• Topics: Circle Series, Pavilions, Gardens
• Project Year: 1965-1966
• Reconstruction: 2006
• Reconstruction Location: Kroller Muller Museum, Hoenderloo, Netherlands
• Photographs: Courtesy of Kroller Muller Museum, Flickr Users

Whatever space and time mean, place and occasion mean more. For space in the image of man is place, and time in the image of man is occasion.¹

– Aldo van Eyck

Aldo van Eyck Sculpture Garden Pavilion Photographs

© Bradman334

Courtesy of Kroller Muller Museum

© Cary Markerink

© Christopher Clarkson

© Ir. Drager

Pavilion in 1966

The construction of the pavilion is a careful 2D drawing exercise. Six parallel walls almost 4 meters high are placed with a distance of 2.5 meters from each other. The walls bend, forming semicircular spaces, and the sudden cuts transform this simple pattern into a sophisticated spatial device. Until its reconstruction, this work stood as a model of paper architecture.

In the 2000’s decade, the project was acquired and rebuilt in consultation with Hannie van Eyck and realized with the support from the BankGiro Lottery and members of the Dutch Architects Union BNA (Bond Nederlandse Architecten)

Text from the Kroller Muller Museum Exhibition

‘Humane architecture’

The Aldo van Eyck pavilion in the sculpture garden is as faithful as possible to reproduce the temporary pavilion that this Dutch architect designed in 1965-1966 for the 5th International sculpture exhibition ’66 in Arnhem. As in all the designs of Van Eyck, who advocates a ‘humane architecture,’ circles and curves play an essential role in the building.

Agile character

The pavilion consists of six parallel walls of light grey breeze blocks, which create corridors. In these five corridors, semicircular spaces are created. The walls support a transparent roof, through which the diffused light enters. Despite its compactness, the building has a lively and friendly character.

Aldo van Eyck Sculpture Garden Pavilion Plans

Floor Plan | © Aldo Van Eyck

© Aldo Van Eyck

Sonsbeek Sculpture Pavilion Image Gallery

About Aldo Van Eyck

Aldo van Eyck or van Eijk (March 16th, 1918 – January 14th, 1999) was an architect from the Netherlands. After studying at the Royal Academy of Visual Arts in The Hague, van Eyck studied architecture from 1938-42 at the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule in Zurich. Van Eyck gained international recognition with his design of Amsterdam’s Municipal Orphanage (1955-60).

An active member of CIAM and then in 1954 a co-founder of “Team 10”, Van Eyck has lectured throughout Europe and northern America stressing the need to reject Functionalism and attacking the lack of originality in most post-war Modernism. Van Eyck’s position as co-editor of the Dutch magazine Forum helped publicize the “Team 10” call to return to humanism within architectural design.
Other works from Aldo Van Eyck 

1.  Aldo van Eyck in Place and Occasion

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