Constant Nieuwenhuys

Constant Nieuwenhuys (Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 1920 – 2005) lived and worked in Amsterdam, and was one of the foremost innovators of Unitary Urbanism. Generally known simply as Constant, in 1948 he founded the Experimentel Group Holland with Corneille, Karel Appel and Jan Nieuwenhuys. They then went on to link up with Christian Dotrement, Joseph Noiret, Belgium and Asger Jorn, Denmark to form CoBrA.

After World War II, he turned his attention to futuristic environments and in the 1950s and 1960s developed a series of drawings for a utopian city. This was “New Babylon,” in which mechanization allows for liberation from work and a new “situation,” with room for the universal expression of creativity.