IV - INSIDE JOZEF SCHELLEKENS HOUSE - A MODERNIST TOUR DE FORCE
The importance of art, design and architecture as a fundamental part RIMOWA’s heritage and cultural footprint.
In an ongoing series looking at architecture that inspires, RIMOWA visits the iconic home of Belgium-born Modernist architect Jozef Schellekens.
Discover the Original Collection
The city of Turnhout in Antwerp features some of Belgium’s most notable pieces of Modernist architecture. Among the architectural highlights of Turnhout is the home of Jozef Schellekens, the versatile architect who designed and built the house in 1935, when he was just 26 years old. Something of a multi-hyphenate, Schellekens was a glass-artist, painter and sculptor, and the building, which serves as a tribute to the architect’s impressive vision, housed his office and home, and acted as a showcase for his distinctive work.
Discover the Personal collection
Schellekens’s house is a wonderful example of the New Objectivity movement in architecture. Initially rising to prominence in Germany in the 1920s, through sites such as the Bauhaus Dessau, New Objectivity architecture valued the functional use of buildings and space, with the aim being to provide a better quality of living. In Schellekens’s house, modern and traditional elements come together, with classical brickwork united with space-expanding glass components. Internally, the colourful duplex-style house is decorated with Schellekens’ own paintings, and features an amalgamation of both compact and open plan spaces, that were perfect for hosting clients and guests. It’s the perfect fusion of form and function.
Photographer: Simon Menges
Trustees: Architects in Motion
I- INSIDE THE ICONIC HAUS KEMPER
II- INSIDE HEXENHAUS, GERMANY'S HIDDEN ARCHITECTURAL GEM
IV- INSIDE JOZEF SCHELLEKENS HOUSE - A MODERNIST TOUR DE FORCE
