4 BRIDGES FOR HOUTHAVEN / ERIDANOS
In collaboration with Verburg Hoogendijk Architekten and Parklaan Landscape Architects commissioned by the City of Amsterdam
Bridge no.276, built in 1930 by architect Piet Kramer, spanned the Oostertoegang near Amsterdam Central Station, but had to make way for the construction of the IJtram at the beginning of this century.
Despite the robust functionality of the four lifting towers, the expressionistic imagery of the Amsterdam School can be heard in a subtle way. The reconstruction of this bridge as Gevlebrug in Houthaven connects the architecture of the Spaarndammerbuurt with the functionality of post-industrial Houthaven.
This sets the tone for us; the 14 newly built bridges for Houthaven should combine sober functionality with a stylish design with an eye for detail, materiality, intimacy and atmosphere.
Inspired by the typology of the classic Kramer bridges, we are making ornaments on the heads of the pillars. Inspired by the decorations of sculptor Hildo Krop, with whom Kramer often collaborated, these are like the logical continuation of the formal language of the pillars faceted objects.
ERIDANOS (Amber River) is the mythological name of a river that used to be in the area of today’s Baltic Sea. Amber is fossilized resin that was ‘bled’ from the trunks of conifers millions of years ago. The conifers grew mainly in the area of the Baltic Sea and the Baltic Sea. It is quite conceivable that during the Saaliën (the penultimate ice age) amber with the advancing land ice moved from the Baltic Sea region to the southwest. At that time, the boundary of the land ice ran, translated to the current topography, up to the line Haarlem-Nijmegen. This means that the land ice near Amsterdam also deposited pieces of amber in the soil.
Solid glass objects on the heads of the pillars, produced by glass studio Tetterode in Amsterdam, evoke the association with ice, permafrost. The quality of the glass is crystalline, literally ‘crystal clear’ and has no colour of its own. In the objects are amber-coloured objects, encased in the solid glass, as a reference to the fossilised resin that once bled from the prehistoric conifers.

SILENT WITNESSES   HARD FACTS
In collaboration with Parklaan Landscape Architects and commissioned by the municipality of Enschede and ADT (Area Development Twente)
Assignment; the transformation of four historical objects into meaningful places in a ‘guilty landscape’.
AFSZ PARALLAX The tanks of a former Air Fuel Station (AFS) now form two immense eyes focused on the redeveloped nature development area on the site of the former airport.
C26 DOPPLER A former test building (run-up) where the jet engines of F16’s were tested has now been dismantled and transformed into a cathedral shaped skeleton in which the dying away noise of aircraft is mixed with bird sounds. Silencers at the back of the monument tell stories of crashed planes, peasants driven away by the Germans and the story of a daughter about her still missing father.
TARGET Deep in the forest against the flanks of the Lonnekerberg lies like a chapel a mysterious building.  It turns out to be a bullet-catcher with which the guns of bombers were aimed during World War II. The bars of the fence that now protect the interior of this monument seem to represent the shock waves of impacting grenades.
RICOCHET In the wooden walls of the bullet-catcher of the range, the grazing shots are still visible as silent witnesses. The design of the bars of the fence that now protects this object still resonates with the sound of the bullets.

Realisation; 2016

READ; ‘Art as a silent witness to hard facts’ Kester Freriks, NRC April 2016
HERE you can download a booklet about this project

GROND/GELUID (GROUND-SOUND)

GROUND-SOUND is a soundproofing piece of land art for Schiphol-Hoofddorp in collaboration with H+N+S Landschapsarchitecten, TNO and Witteveen and Bos. Commissioned by Schiphol Airport and Mainport and Groen.

‘The 18^th century physicist Ernst Chladni scattered sand on a surface he afterwards made vibrate with a string bow. As soon as the strummed surface sounded a fundamental the sand jumped up and organised itself into a geometric pattern. The invisible fundamental became visible in the sand.’ At different locations around Schiphol, but mostly in the north of Hoofddorp, residents experience nuisance from the sound of planes that use their engines to full capacity on the starting lane. This low frequency sound is also known as ‘grond geluid’, ground sound.
Calculations and field measurements have shown that the ground sound can be reduced when ridges are constructed in the mowing fields. To realise the wanted noise reduction the area of Buitenschot also requires these ridges. This seems to contradict the idea of Buitenschot as a park, but the thought of a ripple of ridges as a metaphor for the scattering and ending of the ground noise offers us many chances for an exciting park landscape to get lost in and find shelter. Sightlines create smaller and bigger ‘rooms’ that can be used for sports or games, recreation, dog walking or even events.
Ground and sound are contradicting terms; it is mass versus energy, solid versus thin, static versus dynamic. It is these kinds of contradictions that, when put together, appeal to the imagination.
The ‘Luisterend Oor’ and the ‘Chladni-vijver’ are some of the art objects in the area that use the phenomena sound and waves as their theme.

You can find a booklet about this project HERE (English)
Installation October 2013

DE HARTSLAG VAN DE IJSSEL (THE HEARTBEAT OF THE IJSSEL)
in collaboration with VHArch architecten, Bosch en Slabbers landschapsarchitecten ea, commissioned by Van Oord/GMB

On the initiative of the Waterschap Vallei en Veluwe a high-water channel will be constructed between Veessen and Wapenveld in spirit of Ruimte voor de Rivier*. This is a ‘dry’ shore of 8 kilometres that will flow with the river once the water reaches extremes heights (approximately once in the span of a human life). VHArch held responsibility with Van Oord/GMB for the architectural ‘works of art’, such as the inlet, the bridges and pillars, various weirs and pumping stations etcetera. Bosch en Slabbers were responsible for the integration into the landscape. VHArch asked me to contribute to the design from an artistic perspective. Besides suggesting various designs in regards to the design of the pillars and making a large number of artist-impressions of the ‘works of art’, I also suggest the artwork THE HEARTBEAT OF THE IJSSEL. Beneath the bridge, where the grass doesn’t grow, an elongated piece of art is created in collaboration with near-by residents. This piece is allowed to grow throughout the years. February 1995 marks the date when water from the Ijssel reached the tops of the dyke. This historical fact instigated a new way of thinking about high-water safety. ‘The Heartbeat of the Ijssel’ represents this story of the cause and consequence of the ‘Ruimte voor de Rivier’ policy and of the high-water channel Veessen-Wapenveld in particular. Every three years the water levels of the Ijssel of the passing years will be added to a segment of the bridge. When the bridge is completed in 2015, the first 20 years of measuring points will be visible. These measuring points consist of oval drops of high-gloss RVS. The rhythm of the river sparkles in the dark space beneath the bridge. It takes about the span of a human life to complete this work, by then it will be 780 metres long. The chances of incorporating the flowing of the high-water channel are thus very high! ‘The Heartbeat’ shows the passing of time with the rhythm of the river in a sober and subdued way. Functionality and art work well together; the dark space under the bridge gets meaning, even though there will be no water flowing underneath it for most of the time.

Design: spring 2013
* Ruimte voor de Rivier is a Dutch ‘Key Planning Decision’ that was enacted on the 26th of January 2007. Its goals is to prevent flooding of the larger rivers and the improvement of the ‘spatial quality’ of the river areas.

GEHEUGENSPOOR (Memory Trace)
is a sketch design in spirit of the reconstruction of traffic junction N242/N241 at Oude Niedorp/Verlaat. In collaboration with PARKLAAN Landschapsarchitecten and commissioned by the county Noord-Holland.

A map from 1850 shows us the route of the towpath along the shores of the Ringsloot around the polder Heerhugowaard. When we trace this line over the reconstruction drawing of the traffic junction, we can see that today’s landscape shows striking similarities to the landscape in the 1800s. But we can also see that a corner of the former Ringsloot has disappeared into the Niedorpervaart. This sketch design brings the former towpath along the ‘Ringsloot of the Heer Hugo Waard’ back to the surface, like a MEMORY TRACE in today’s and tomorrow’s landscape.
Like most towpaths, the Memory Track is a sand path. But instead of normal sand, the Memory Track has steel sand. Steel sand colours the track an intense reddish-brown colour which gives it a stark contrast to the green of the surrounding grass. Just like any other regular sand path, the steel sand organizes in cloudy patterns and tracks are memorised like a relief on the surface. On the Memory Track we can see the hoof prints of a horse, a draught horse that once pulled along a barge across the ring ditch. In places where the Memory Track crosses the water, in the ecological stepping-stone and in the corner of the Niedorpervaart, it is carried by a wooden platform or a floating pier.
As soon as the MEMORY TRACE has taken shape in the heads of passers-by, it will forever become part of the experience of this place.

Sketch design: November 2012
Unveiling: 28 June 2013
Click HERE and HERE for more information about this design. (English)

KOMPASS
a vision on the connection of the N50/N764/Hanzelijn commissioned by the municipal Kampen, executed in collaboration with PARKLAAN Landschapsarchitecten.

After the redesign of the infrastructure various spaces have become locked in this traffic tissue as unreachable and orphaned shards. We want to bring these different shards together under one denominator and the best way to do this is to introduce water as a combining force. The traffic tissue no longer separates the Kloof into different pieces, but becomes a unifying framework that seems to have been thrown over a continuous surface of water. This causes the situation to become the monumentality that lives up to the scale of the city and the landscape as a worthy waterfront for Kampen.
In Hanze’s time, seafarers orientated themselves with the aid of a compass and ingenious sea maps with compass roses and orientation lines. We want to connect this new waterfront, with the help of this centuries old method of localisation, with the historical waterfront along the IJsselkade in the historical centre of Kampen.
The new entryway to Kampen sees the combining of three different methods of transportation. We want to introduce a compass rose for each of these three; one for the railway passenger, one for the car driver, and one for recreational users. The orientation lines that are drawn from the compass roses are each made visible individually with a variety of vegetation; loosestrife, waterlilies and yellow irises. This way a fascinating linear pattern has the chance to be formed in both space and time (summer-winter).

Click HERE to read more about this project. (English)
February 2013

CAMOUFLAGE

Parkingspace at Fort Vechten, centre of the Nieuwe Hollandse Waterlinie with a capacity of 250 cars, 100 bicycles and 2 busses. Commissioned by the county Utrecht, in collaboration with PARKLAAN Landschapsarchitecten.

Even before we reach Fort Vechten we experience a special place in the landscape of the Nieuwe Hollandse Waterlinie.
The design for this parking space is based on the principals of the hidden military landscape.
Without parked cars, the space looks like a meadow in the landscape, with some concrete paths, casemates, stork nests, and tank barriers.
Only after closer inspection do we see the hidden parking spaces, the numerical tiles and dragon’s teeth in a strict military order.

The parking space is located on the old mowing field and the archaeological monument, it can be disposed of and can also be recycled.
The concrete paths are made of Via Verde-concrete, this contains almost no cement and reduces CO2 emissions. The use of grass paving grids and split bricks reduces the use of materials enormously.

Uitvoering; 2012

WATEROFFERS (WATER SACRIFICES)

for Broekpolder in collaboration with PARKLAAN Landschapsarchitecten. Commissioned by the municipals Heemskerk and Beverwijk.

‘Water Sacrifices’ connects the archaeology in the Broekpolder with the OerIJ, with its marshlands, and the water management in the modern suburbs. ‘Water Sacrifices’ introduces new customs and rituals for a modern settlement. Mysterious white stones were found in a historical sacrificial place near the water of the OerIJ. Now, every household in the Broekpolder receives a white ‘sacrificial stone’ from us. This project brings the archaeological and geological story of the landscape together with the extraordinary water system of the Broekpolder suburbs. “If one leaves the polder, the stone will be sacrificed…” Archaeological investigation raises the suspicion that the spatial planning of the pre-historic settlements and sacrificial places in the OerIJ are a mirror-image of the nocturnal starry sky. In today’s Broekpolder, a long singel (the Offersingel) stretched between two roundabouts. The roundabouts form the ‘source’ and the ‘whirl’. In the Offersingel are four concrete (marsh)islands like ‘constellations in the Milky Way’; Hydra, Cygnus, Pisces, and Auriga. The changing water levels in the Offersingel become readable when the islands peek out from the surface of the water. LED lights on the surface of the islands light up at night and paint the different constellations in the Offersingel. A ‘fossil’ water plant, EQUISETUM FLUVIATILE, grows near the island on the banks of the Offersingel. The spores of this plant spread via the water, ‘along the stream…’

Design: 2003/2005
Start construction: 2005
Completion: 2011
Click HERE for a booklet about WATER SACRIFICES (Dutch)

THESAURUS FECTIO

Commissioned by the county Utrecht and in collaboration with PARKLAAN Landschapsarchitecten.

Near Bunnik, close to the A12 directly situated next to Fort Vechten, a slight slope in the landscape is visible under a small orchard. This slope houses at least seven generations of Roman castella stacked on top of each other. When the Romans conquered Northern Europe shortly before the start of our calendar, this area acted as a base from which they intended to break through to the rest of the north. Here, the Vecht branched from the Rhine, which made it the perfect location for the castellum FECTIO. When conquering the north proved unsuccessful, the Romans pulled back until just behind the Rhine, which had at that point become the northern border of the Roman Empire. A line of castella and watchtowers sprung up using the Limes as a connecting road. This makes Fectio, together with Valkenburg near Den Haag and Nijmegen, one of the oldest, biggest and most important Roman castella in The Netherlands. As opposed to many other sights of the Roman presence, this area has maintained free from development. It is not hard to imagine that beneath this ground is an extraordinary treasure room (Thesaurus).

Click HERE for more information. (Dutch)

DEJA VU

Reconstruction of Huize Moerenburg, Tilburg. In collaboration with MTD Landschapsarchitecten, Ed Kooiman and Joost van Hezewijk.

Giving history a small push, the image of Huize Moerenburg (based on a single painting from 1700) coincides almost perfectly with the helophyte filter in today’s landscaping plan by MTD. By projecting the monumental axis of the area, the functional layout of the helophyte filter grows into a visual echo of the monumental baroque garden in the painting. I am of the opinion that this is why this painting of Huize Moerenburg is the legitimacy for MTD’s design. If we don’t keep the painting in mind, park Moerenburg loses its ‘pointe’. The painting is a part of it, literally! Not the reconstruction of Huize Moerenburg, but the painting itself, with its wooden and distorted perspective, should be decisive for the design. The house and garden come from a Renaissance and Baroque era. These cultural movements ran from around 1600 until 1750 in Northern Europe, the era of the Enlightenment in Europe. Many discoveries and inventions are done in both the sciences and arts, like for instance the central perspective. Distorted avenues are constructed in the parks, which makes them look longer or shorter, and makes buildings look more imposing.
With my contribution from the visual arts, I’d like to incorporate this distorted perspective in the CorTen steel construction of the reconstruction of Huize Moerenburg, like ‘trompe-l’oeil’, a ‘deceiving eye’.
If you stand on the raised surface, looking out over the helophyte filter with the distorted perspective, it is almost like experiencing déjà vu, like looking at the painting from 1700. It is not just the space that is distorted, but time gets a little push as well. The sun dial is not pointed perpendicular towards the south, but it still gives the right sun time.

Plan period 2010
Click HERE for more background information. (Dutch)