Transformations in Landscape Architecture
Especially parks are difficult to preserve as they originally were intended to be. Trees grow and disappear and open spaces tend to be overgrown. Approximately every century a new plan must be made to renew, and in that way preserve, the quality of a historic park. That means adding and incorporating a new layer on top of the previous development of a park. A transformation with respect towards the specific history of the object but not a copy of its history. The crucial word in this process is ‘respect’. After a brief introduction to the theme, I will show three realized plans. The first is Twickel Estate in Delden, a five hundred year old park that has undergone a huge revitalisation in the last decade. The last transformation was in 1897 by Petzold, a German park architect. The second is the Grebbeberg, which is, up till the moment the project was realised, a quite invisible archeological site in a nature preservation area. The commission was to show that there was something special on this natural site overlooking the river Rhine. A few subtle and small interventions left the site as it was, but in the mean time put it on the map and gave it a new layer of interest. The third is a park in Osdorp, a suburb of Amsterdam realised in the fifties of the last century. To counter a downward spiral in the social status of this neighborhood new housing is added of a better quality and in that way introducing another population into the neighborhood. As a result the green space is less, but on the other hand a budget was given to enhance its quality. The waterpark is a result of this extra investment in green. A complete transformation of a typical closed green area without much identity into an open playful park. Michael van Gessel was educated as a landscape architect at the University of Wageningen (1978), he is active in the broader field of landscape architecture and urbanism. Since 1997 he has worked as an independent advisor. Prior to this he was employed for eighteen years at Bureau B+B (urbanism and landscape architecture), the last seven as its director. He devotes half his time to the supervision of large scale projects such as: the development of the Belvédère in Maastricht; the development of the former harbour area in Amsterdam, IJ-oevers; the renovation of the Vondel Park in Amsterdam; and the renovation and expansion of Artis, the Amsterdam Zoo. Landscape architectural projects take up the rest of his time. These projects amongst others include working on new parks (Stadspark and Waterpark Osdorp in Amsterdam, the Museum Park at the Oranjewoud estate in Heerenveen, and Kromhoutpark in Tilburg) and the renovation of old city parks and estates (Rijsterborgherpark in Deventer, Valkenbergpark in Breda, Oranjepark in Vlaardingen, Twickel in Delden, and De Haar Castle in Haarzuilens).