Project for Counter-Construction (Axonometric) - Theo van Doesburg

In 1923, Theo van Doesburg and Cornelis van Eesteren challenged traditional conceptions of architecture with their "Counter-Construction Project (Axonometric)," a visual manifesto that sought to dismantle the idea of enclosed spaces and centralized structure. Van Doesburg, a painter and theorist of Neoplasticism, understood that architecture needed to expand its language beyond mere functional utility, becoming an expression of rhythms and spatial relationships. Van Eesteren, an architect with technical training, provided the mathematical precision necessary to transform these ideas into concrete projections.

The composition of this project eliminates conventional hierarchies: there is no main façade or closed volume dominating the structure. Instead, the planes float in dynamic equilibrium, as if the architecture could be experienced from multiple angles without being confined to a single perspective. The choice to represent the work in an axonometric view is not accidental; it seeks to reinforce the idea of a space open in all its dimensions, where the viewer is not bound by a vanishing point imposed by classical perspective.

The relationship between Van Doesburg and Van Eesteren was not accidental, but rather the result of the natural evolution of De Stijl, where painting and architecture began to engage in a closer dialogue. While Mondrian sought absolute purity in two-dimensionality, Van Doesburg understood that these principles could be translated into three dimensions, as long as the independence of the elements and their balance within the whole were maintained. Van Eesteren, with his architectural experience, became the perfect partner to bring these ideas into spatial projects, marking a key difference from the traditional trends of the time.

The counter-construction project not only anticipated the dissolution of enclosed spaces in modern architecture, but also influenced later movements such as Russian Constructivism and the Bauhaus. The idea of an architecture not built from walls and closed volumes, but from floating planes and tension relationships, inspired designers like Gerrit Rietveld and later figures of Minimalism such as Donald Judd.

More than a century after its conception, this work continues to resonate in contemporary architecture. The decentralization of space, structural fragmentation, and the idea of a building conceived more as a pictorial composition than as a habitable box are principles that still challenge our understanding of the relationship between art and function.