The 1994 Masterplan Ypenburg concerns an expansion area for approx. 11,000 houses on the site of a former military airfield and was commissioned by the Ypenburg Joint Venture. The plan has two components. On the one hand a framework of public spaces and routes and, on the other hand, the fields, which in the course of time have been developed by a selection of designers and developers into residential and business areas. It is the framework that was elaborated in detail by our practice. It has not been geared to the size of the adjacent residential neighbourhoods but has been given its own scale and architectural dimension instead. The large dimensions of the framework are accompanied by simple, plain detailing. The design is to be considered an exercise in restraint.
Since the 1965 Pampus plan innumerable designs have been made for the urban extension in the IJmeer. The site became topical again in 1995. Our design deviates from the intention to dyke in and reclaim the IJmeer with the aim of adding a new urban lobe. In our proposal the model of a finger city has been converted into a loosely arranged archipelago. The openings between the islands safeguard the visual and ecological transparency of the archipelago. The difference between the lee and the rough water surfaces allows differentiation in the contours of the shoreline: from tree-lined dykes in the north, via quays, to waterside gardens in the south. While the composition of the archipelago as a whole is slightly whimsical, the public spaces on the islands have a simple geometric structure. Within this structure each project establishes its own relationship with the city and the landscape. Besides residential and work areas, IJburg has a marina, a beach, a transferium, a cemetery and various new nature reserves.
The project covers an area stretching from the northwest town centre to the Belgian border. An irregular relief line, deeply concealed waterworks and relics of old fortifications are transected by the route of the Noorderbrug. This hybrid landscape is the last location in Maastricht that can meet the town’s need for residential and work areas. The development period spans 20 to 25 years.
Our plan aims at the reorganisation of the underlying structure of landscape and infrastructure so as to create a stable framework for the long-term transformation process. The tangle of the traffic bridge, slip roads, waterworks and fortifications will be unravelled by shifting the landing of the Noorderbrug northwards. This will allow incorporating the landscape relics into an uninterrupted park area, the Frontenpark. The traffic structure and the landscape structure constitute a three-dimensional design, gratefully making use of the existing relief.
This design sketch is a study of the possibilities to accommodate the pressure of urbanization generated by Deventer in the surrounding landscape. The study was carried out in the framework of the Landstad Deventer manifestation and commissioned by the Municipalities Deventer, Olst and Bathmen. The design investigates the option of injecting urban programmes into the rural area as a development strategy for the surroundings of Deventer. Country estates, new villages and residential/work enclaves will find their place here and take advantage of the qualities of the landscape. The challenge of the design sketch is designing this advantage in such a way so as to generate new qualities of the landscape and its use. Instead of being a parasite, the residential/work programmes will be the source of new vitality in the rural area.
This plan was one of the eight entries for the manifestation AIR Hoeksche Waard and was commissioned by the Rotterdam Art Foundation. The design fixes no final image and consists of a territorial division (zoning) and an accompanying set of rules (strategy). The plan operates like a time machine that modulates changes in the area in time (pace) and space (scale). Speeding up is achieved by looking for a connection with the infrastructural network at a regional and international scale. Slowing down is achieved by looking for a connection with the slow cycles of the delta, and/or disconnecting areas from the regional and international infrastructure. The differentiation of the scale means that the landscape will develop towards a more varied combination of different elements. Integration means that the various parts of the existing landscape will be put together and will blend into a greater whole.
Each year, 80 hectares of the barren and chaotic landscape of the Zuidplaspolder turn into stone by being built up or paved. In conjunction with HNS we designed a ‘structural image’ that lends quality, proportions and scale to this landscape and prepares it for future transformations: first structure, then claims.
Stratification is the leading principle. The lowest lying southern part will remain free from urbanisation to evolve into wetlands and a wildlife area. In the northern part the polder grid will be continued. It will be turned into a ‘plantation landscape’ by doubling the ribbons, planting trees along avenues and digging wide watercourses.
The polder pattern will be intetwined with regional roads, running parallel, though at some distance, to the motorways. They will showcase the qualities of the area and interweave the Zuidplaspolder with the network city of the Zuidvleugel.
The combination of a varied, quality landscape and the vicinity of cities make the triangle between Deventer, Apeldoorn and Zutphen an attractive residential area. To address the existing housing demand, the regional authorities are aiming to bring about more differentiation in the regular house-building programme and have proposed to examine low-density rural residential forms and small-scale village extensions within the triangle of cities. This quick scan explores a series of contemporary rural housing typologies, in close connection with their underlying landscapes. New residential forms and the creation of new landscape are part of one strategy. This results in an interaction between developing new landscape and rural living, which makes the variation in landscape more evident and enhances the landscape structure as a whole. Examples from the series include: new estates along the riverbanks, hidden clusters in the monumental ‘chamber landscape’ and new settlements in the mosaic landscape of avenues and parcels of woodland.
The Wieringerrandmeer Masterplan is an elaboration of a previous vision by Bureau Hosper, which proposed separating the original island Wieringen from the mainland again. Wieringen will remain visible behind the old Wierdijk as an autonomous and authentic landscape. The new residential fields in the shape of tidal marshes address the new lake and remain at a distance from the former wadden island.
The tidal marshes consist partly of reed beds and grassland and partly of gardens belonging to houses. In a number of strategic places the ‘capes’ have been made accessible to the public. As a result, standing at the tip of the cape one can enjoy the commanding view of the large lake.
While part of the dwellings (low density) is concealed in an extension of the Robbenoord wood in the Wieringermeer polder, it is the plots of the other part that make up the landscape in the shape of an elongated island.
What is understood by rural living, and what is the land use that underlies rural living? We examined these questions to be able to assess the feasibility of combining the specific programme with the envisaged rural character, and to be able to value reference images when addressing new assignments. Breaking the parcellation structure of diverse plans and projects down into separate plan elements provides reference material about net density, the relationship public-private and the organisation of public space. When combined with additional data about plot size and plot structure, concrete information about the degree of rurality of the plans becomes available. Moreover, interesting patterns and correlations come to light, such as the relationship between plot size and extra space in public area, or the tilting point between ‘living in the landscape’ and ‘rural living in the urban area’.
The IJssel valley with her Hanzecities is one of the most beautiful Dutch landscapes.
To cope with the increasing amounts of riverwater the government came up with a few measures for Zutphen and it’s region in the programme ‘Ruimte voor de rivier’ (Space for the river).
Provincial and communal authorities have investigated how to accomplish these goals along with their own ambitions on housing, traffic and landscape, under the motto ‘Right at once’.
The chosen strategy is to create more space for the river by making a parallel riverbed, which will, when the waterlevel rises, flow along the main riverbed. The measures for widening the riverbed will have to be realized before 2015.
The former IJsselmeander and the streams on the Veluweside will be connected to form a coherent landscape as a connection between the forests of the Veluwe and the river IJssel.
The jump over the IJssel is the urban development of 3000 houses for the city of Zutphen at the opposing riverbank. It is to be the extension of the existing neighbourhood De Hoven near the IJsselbridge. It will spread to the west along the former IJsselmeander and to the south along the riverdike. Green wedges and existing urban ribbons provide visible connections to the cityscape of Zutphen. They also make a gradual marking between the new urban area and the surrounding landscape.
The new diversion of the regional road ensures the decrease of traffic within the De Hoven. It meanders from the northwest (the village of Voorst) to the southern IJsselbridge. As a parkway it offers a scenic view on the Veluwe, the jump over the IJssel and the towers of Zutphen on the horizon.
