neering and architecture, Dieste’s work results in an architecture of the specific. Dieste’s focus on integrating multiple aspects of these separate arguments was not a unique one. Häring argued “before the advent of geometry, man’s inventive spirit explored with real success the potential of the many building materials provided by nature.”7 This could be viewed in contrast with this quote from Der Stil; “Every material [has] conditions that distinguish it from other materials and that demand a technical treatment appropriate to it.”8 Both of these arguments exemplify a focus on the importance of materials in architecture; however, their approach could not be further from each other. Rationalists argue each material contains its own unique properties. These properties are self-determined and inherent in the material. The architect is to apply these materials in a manner that best exemplifies these properties. When defending the curve in material terms, many architects and theorists have capitalized on this unwavering interpretation. Van de Velde claims “every material carries within itself forces and possibilities whose dramatic meaning and intensity lie within the graph that leads the material from the point of inanimate rigidity to life, from death to life!”9 This comment resonates with the work of Michel De Klerk whose expressive use of brick as a material ran counter to the rationalist tendencies of the Amsterdam School set in place by Berlage. De Klerk’s experimentation with the material proved he was not slave to one pre-conceived notion of the material’s property. Relevant to all Architects and designers of the 20th century were the issues of industrialization and the process of mass production. Both sides of the curve debate used the processes of mass production to frame their arguments. This debate stems around one fundamental difference – standardization vs. technological potential. Rationalists Michel de Klerk het schip, 1920. perspective
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appropriated standardization (in the topic of materials) as an alibi for maintaining the purity of the line. This common conception among