Doorsnede van een gebouw over de lengte c. 1864

Willem Springer Jr. created this detailed architectural drawing, "Doorsnede van een gebouw over de lengte," offering a peek into 19th-century building design. Springer, born in 1815, lived through a time of vast social and industrial change. This design reveals the era’s architectural priorities; notice the emphasis on structured, multi-story buildings and orderly interiors. In Springer’s time, architecture was a male-dominated field, and drawings like these were essential for communicating plans and solidifying the vision of progress. Consider the unseen laborers whose work would turn these lines into reality, and how class dynamics are embedded in this design. It reflects both an aesthetic and a social structure and invites us to consider whose stories are literally built into the foundations. Springer's cross-section invites us to consider the layers of society itself, structured and purposeful, with the human experience at its core.