Acta Universitatis Wratislaviensis No 3410 Neerlandica Wratislaviensia XX Wrocław 2011 Anna WIĝNICKA (John Paul II Catholic University Lublin) New Architecture for a New Man. De Stijl and the Process of Redesigning Architecture in the Age of Modernism Abstract This article presents the activities of the De Stijl group that was active in the Netherlands after World War I in all its forms (activities of artists, a magazine, architectural style). The ideas of De Stijl were created for a ‘new man’ — a man of modernity who was not afraid of the unknown. The Rietveld- Schröderhuis in Utrecht is the most visible example of the new thinking by De Stijl. De Stijl group has been one of the most influential artistic movements in the age of modernism in Europe. There are many scientific works concerning different aspects connected both with the members of the group and their general art rules. This text aims to focus on the groundbreaking aspects of the new architecture directed to the new society after World War I which has been strictly connected with the emergence of modernism. It shows two main types of buildings — those for civic use and private one and the way how they revolutionized the perception of architecture. The work begins with the general description of modernism and proceeds to the emergence of de Stijl. To be able to fully present the matter, the author decided to provide the reader with the term de Stijl in all its forms — a group of artists, a magazine, and most importantly a particular architectural style. More- over, to be precise in explaining the thesis the reader is provided with the def- inition of a new man, mentioned in the title. The following paragraphs present de Stijl group against the background of the cultural changes in England and Ger- many at the turn of the 20 th century. The great architectural heritage of the Stijl group was indebted to the three main architects — Jacobus Johannes Pieter Oud, Gerrit Thomas Rietveld and Theo van Doesburg. Successive paragraphs present the case of civic architecture designed by J.P.P. Oud. They provide the reader with the realizations of the following housing estates — Tusschendijken, Kiefhoek and Hoek van Holland. Another issue mentioned in the text is private architecture and the key role of the patron in the process of creating a new kind of a private mansion house. The Rietveld-Schröderhuis villa designed by Thomas Rietveld Neerlandica Wratislaviensia 20, 2011 © for this edition by CNS