Backlash as Gerrit Rietveld art school plans to leave its namesake's building.

The Gerrit Rietveld Academie, one of the Netherlands' foremost art schools, faces dissent over plans to move out of its landmark home (pictured). Designed by modernist architect and furniture designer Rietveld between 1950 and 1963, and completed after his death, this historic landmark is his most important public building.

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The art academy that occupies it has proposed moving due to increased student numbers. This would see the building partly taken over by the British School of Amsterdam, a private, non-creative education enterprise. The idea has caused controversy in design circles worldwide and prompted a petition of over 2,000 signatures.

One signatory, Marcel Brouwer, head of 20th-century decorative arts and design at Christie's in Amsterdam, said: 'Replacing the art academy - so indissolubly attached to the avant-garde and modernist ideas of Rietveld - by an elite private school is like proposing to upholster his red and blue chair like a Chesterfield settee.'

The academy commissioned a study by Amsterdam-based Hootsmans Architectuurbureau to assess the feasibility of remaining on site, but it was deemed unsatisfactory. In a newsletter to staff and students, academy president Tijmen van Grootheest wrote: 'Hootsmans' plan is not a bad proposal, but it shows 11,000m2 of space on our site of which we could lease approximately 3,500m2; the rest is for use by another party'. He refers also to a scale model of the proposal which shows that 'the sun only shines on our site a few days of the year'.

Instead, the former Gemeentelijk Administratie Kantoor (GAK) building in the district of Los en Bommer could become the academy's new home, expanding on its current lease of one floor. However, many locals are not in favour. Product designer Ann Maes believes the move (which will house student accommodation and studios within the same building) will be detrimental to students' creativity. 'It's dangerous to isolate people in this way. Students need the impulses of Amsterdam life in order to enrich themselves as designers. You cannot expect them to sleep and work in the same building,' she said. For many petitioners, the only solution is to reduce the amount of students at the academy. 'The management should be more selective. This would ensure quality of design work as well as the preservation of the building.' However, the academy is reluctant to reduce pupil intake due to government funding for greater student numbers. The debate continues.

ar Buildings are not always mere floorplate to be leased. This building is the Gerrit Rietveld Academie, in much more than name

www.gerritrietveldacademie.nl