Cubic Undulated Pavement by Centrum voor Cubische Constructies / Peter Graatsma

Heeren Loo, Noordwijk

Designer Peter Graatsma was commissioned by ’s Heeren Loo in Noordwijk to present a reinterpretation of the cubic undulated pavement, which was originally designed by William Pars Graatsma and Jan Slothouber in 1969. On 11 October 2007 the resulting work was officially revealed.

The original idea for the cubic undulated pavement emerged in 1969 during the art manifestation C(ommunicatie)70 and was aimed at making a design plan for Rotterdam’s Schouwburgplein, which hadn’t been developed yet. Although the design by Jan Slothouber and William Graatsma, who collaborated under the name Centrum voor Cubische Constructies (CCC) was never actually realized in Rotterdam, a section of the pavement was realized for the 1970 Venice Biënnale. Indeed Slothouber and Graatsma represented the Netherlands at this festival with their cubic constructions and the theme of the Biënnale, i.e. 'the democratization of art', corresponded nicely with Slothouber and Graatsma’s own work. Executed in concrete, the arched blocks add another dimension to the regular flat concrete paving-stones that are so common in the Netherlands.
Following Venice, the cubic undulated pavement was exhibited – either as a whole work or in parts - and it toured a range of museums and galleries in Germany, Belgium, Switzerland and the Netherlands. Eventually in 1982, part of the concrete pavement was placed on the Luxemburglaan in Eindhoven by Eindhoven’s local authorities.

The pavement is made up of a series of cubic undulated blocks that can be divided into three different types of arched elements. Due to the matching sizes of the elements, many different combinations can be realized with the flat square elements and the resulting ‘world of shapes’ is characterized by its merging of flat surfaces with arched objects. As such it is possible to realize 3-dimensional surfaces and to demarcate spaces without the use of sharp corners.
With support and funding from SKOR, designer Peter Graatsma reinterpreted the original design specifically for Heeren Loo. He did this by means of a new deployment of color and a new arrangement of objects. These changes were based on the needs of ’s Heeren Loo’s future users and on the specific location.

VIVID exhibition Centrum Cubische Constructies in 2003