The Rietveld Schröder House in Utrecht was designed in 1924 by Gerrit Thomas Rietveld (1888-1964) for Mrs Truus Schröder- Schräder (1889-1985), as a home for her and her three young children. Mrs Schröder had very decided ideas about the modern family, the upbringing of her children, and a corresponding way of living. She wanted a flexible house that would be able to evolve over time in tandem with the changing needs of her family. Known and celebrated as the architectural expression of the ideology and design ideas of the De Stijl movement, the house is just as much the expression of the personal attitude to life and wishes of the client who commissioned it. In Rietveld, Mrs Schröder felt she had found the ideal interpreter of her modern ideas

This book comprises a collection of essays on traditional machiya in Kyoto from various viewpoints and at different scales, including the urban fabric, the construction, the layout of the space plan, and building materials and details. By discussing the topic further from the various perspectives of the Dutch and Japanese scholars, we aim not only to cultivate a better understanding of machiya, but also to clarify the difference between the Netherlands and Japan in terms of ideas and approaches to preservation and regeneration of historical buildings.