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The aspect of Amsterdam that I would like to talk about as my little big history topic is Het Houten Huys which is a building located on the Begijnhof. Currently, the Het Houten Huys is mainly made of wood on a material level, as its name suggests. Het Houten Huys is a Dutch word that means wooden house. In this project, there will be three levels to analyze how Het Houten Huys became the way it is today, which is material level, biological level, and cultural level.

Although its outside parts are mostly made of wood, the house’s primarily structures turn to be brick and stone because later maintenance was carried out to enhance the fire resistance and durability of the building. On the basic level, wood, brick, and stone all consist of fundamental particles. How did these fundamental particles exist? How does the origin of particles influence the process of Het Houten Huys becoming the way it is today? When discussing these questions, the concept of the Big Bang is essential. The reason is many scientists and historians think the Big Bang is the origin of the whole world. In addition, this concept had a deep influence on the creation of Het Houten Huys directly through a list of processes.
“Perhaps our universe is part of an infinite multiverse in which new universes keep popping out of big bangs.” [1] The Big Bang explains the formation of the first substance in the universe. After several minutes of the explosion, light elements such as hydrogen and helium are created by nuclear fusion.[2] Since the universe cooled and expanded, there were heavy elements that appealed inside the stars and spreaded into the universe through the explosion of supernovae.[3] These heavy elements are the basic material for building an architecture, such as concrete. If building materials do not exist, Het Houten Huys will not be built and reinforced. Moreover, the galaxy had been formed after the Big Bang, while earth was the product of this process.[4] The ore resources on the earth, such as iron, gold, became the materials for people to build architectures after billions of years of geologic activity and chemical reaction. The most necessary material for building Het Houten Huys is wood, this kind of natural materials also formed based on the environmental conditions and existence of atmosphere that leads to the growth of plants.

Keeshu, the wooden house at the Beguinage in Amsterdam, October 19, 2005

Finally, scientists got universal structure and physical laws through learning the process of Big Bang.[5] These laws influenced the design of architectures directly. For instance, Newton’s mechanics laws may have helped architects to decide the details of the bearing structure of Het Houten Huys. For Het Houten Huys, its identical bearing structure is basically relying on a wooden frame. The main supporting members are combined with wooden beams and stakes, they are connected with nails and by using joinery techniques, which leads to form a stable frame.[6] Therefore, combination of substance, formation of elements, and application of physical laws influence the materials Het Houten Huys required and techniques. The concept of Big Bang directly affects how Het Houten Huys become the way it is today in the material level.

1.David Christian, Origin Story: A Big History of Everything (Penguin Books, 2018) , 2

2. David, Origin Story: A Big History of Everything (Penguin Books, 2018) , 16

3.Weinberg, Steven. The First Three Minutes: A Modern View of the Origin of the Universe. New York: Basic Books, 1993.

4. Weinberg, Steven. The First Three Minutes: A Modern View of the Origin of the Universe. New York: Basic Books, 1993.

5. David, Origin Story: A Big History of Everything (Penguin Books, 2018) , 14

6. Van Eck, Caroline. Classical Rhetoric and the Visual Arts in Early Modern Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007.

Life originated and evolved are connected to the evolution of Het Houten Huys, one of the oldest wooden houses in netherlands. From the perspectives of the little big history, origin of life, biological evolution, and how Het Houten Huys became the way it is today have a close connection.

As the book mentioned: “ Life as we know it arose from exotic chemistry in the element-rich environments of the young planet Earth almost four billion years ago.” [7] These plants are important for Het Houten Huys to be built, especially wood. This part of analysis will be more focused on the biological level. The existence of wood relies on plants, which get energy via photosynthesis.[8] This is a process of origin of biology since billions of years ago. No doubt, since the evolution of life created the growth of plants and forests on the earth, early human society used wood as their architectural materials. If there are no basic biological resources, the wooden architecture as Het Houten Huys will never exist.

Moreover, evolution of life and ecosystem dynamics have influenced the existence of Het Houten Huys. The Netherlands' wetland environment played an important role in the existence of this architecture. As wood is the easiest raw material to get during early society, the wood daubed over pitch can resist moist conditions. This reflects the function of environmental selection in architecture design, which is a significant concept of evolution of life, it’s just like the natural selection in biology. According to the theory of evolution, natural selection refers to the fact that animals who can adapt to an identical environment mostly have more chances to survive and breed.[9] For example, the animals living in cold areas may evolve thick fur to keep themselves warm.
The origin of life influences the development of architecture directly. The book underscores the evolution of human cognition as one of the important stages of biological evolution, especially human’s ability to create and use languages and cultures. This collaboration allows human society to take over other species and build complex society structure and architecture. [10]

Het Houten Huys built during Amsterdam’s golden period, which showed the city was in a flourishing period, people improved architectural ability through communication and evolution, especially the process of inventing tools and master architectural skills. Because of this evolution, the wooden houses as Het Houten Huys can exist well and stably nowadays.

How Het Houten Huys became the way it is today is an epitome of how human beings adapt and develop different environments continuously. Origin of life and biological evolution affect the existence of Het Houten Huys directly based on the biological level – generation of plants offered basic architectural materials and evolution of human cognition influenced decisions of architecture design.

7.David Christian, Origin Story: A Big History of Everything (Penguin Books, 2018) , Chapter 4

8.David, Origin Story: A Big History of
Everything (Penguin Books, 2018) , Chapter 5

9.David, Origin Story: A Big History of Everything (Penguin Books, 2018) , Chapter 6

10.David, Origin Story: A Big History of Everything (Penguin Books, 2018) , Chapter 4

The process of exploring the question “How did we initiate the Anthropocene?” can help understand how Het Houten Huys became the way it is today on a cultural level. The ways humans caused the anthropocene are including agriculture, urbanization, deforestation, and pollution.[11]

The globalized commercial system fosters international trade and exchange, accelerating economic and urban development.[12] The phenomenon of the “little divergence” within Europe refers to the process by which Northern Europe gradually exceeds Southern Europe in terms of socio-economic and political performance.[13] Since the urbanization of Amsterdam, its economy grew rapidly, more and more people moved into the city, which led to the growth of demand for new and modern architecture.[14] The development of urbanization also brought huge demand for living places, commerce, and basic fundamentals. Old buildings normally seen as outdated, could not meet the need of age, thus, demolition and renewal became common things. In addition, 1587 was a significant period for the religious reform in Amsterdam. Before that, Amsterdam was a catholic city, many architectures, especially church and cloister, belong to catholic church.[15] Most of these architectures were in a gothic style, and normally built by wood and bricks. However, the religious reform changed things, and a lot of religious architecture was renewed. As the development of a strong transport network, global trades were not only going on well, but also accelerating.[16] Frequent demolition of architecture triggered reflection of industrialization and transvaluation of historical heritage, which let more and more people realize the importance of protecting old architecture. Het Houten Huys as the few that survived old religious architecture, its historical and cultural value drew much more attention from historians and the public. Architecture’s protection was a list of more extensive urban conservation in cultural and historical ways because of the growth of people’s interest in historical architecture.[17]

The development of urbanization and historical context have prompted people to reflect on the influence of industrialization. This leads to thoughts and movements that protect wooden houses on a cultural level. Therefore, urbanization directly affects the existence of Het Houten Huys and the anthropocene as well.

11. “What Is the Anthropocene?” Natural History Museum. Accessed October 17, 2024. https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/what-is-the-anthropocene.html#:~:text=Agriculture%2C%20urbanisation%2C%20deforestation%20and%20pollution,to%20declare%20a%20new%20epoch.

12.Frankopan, Peter. The Earth Transformed: An Untold History. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2023. Chapter 15

13.Frankopan The Earth Transformed: An Untold History. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2023. Chapter 15

14.De Vries, Jan, and Ad van der Woude. The First Modern Economy: Success, Failure, and Perseverance of the Dutch Economy, 1500-1815.

15.Catholic Answers. “Amsterdam.” Catholic Answers, February 21, 2019. https://www.catholic.com/encyclopedia/amsterdam.

16.Frankopan The Earth Transformed: An Untold History. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2023. Chapter 15

17.Vereniging Vrienden van de Amsterdamse Binnenstad. Accessed October 23, 2024. https://www.amsterdamsebinnenstad.nl/binnenstad/243/houten-huis.html.

Conclusion:
Overall, the concept of Big Bang directly affects how Het Houten Huys become the way it is today in the material level. Origin of life and biological evolution affect the existence of Het Houten Huys directly based on the biological level – generation of plants offered basic architectural materials and evolution of human cognition influenced decisions of architecture design. Human activities, thoughts, and movements protect wooden houses on a cultural level. Three levels of little big history combined together have impacts on the existence and development of Het Houten Huys.