Atelier Veldwerk

Taking an existing war monument as starting point creates a clear and readable space. The dike landscape has been preserved and there is a place for commemoration and ceremonies without mortgaging the infrastructure.

Atelier Veldwerk researched the qualities of the landscape in the region of the ‘Vechtpark’, to propose a stronger unity in the different designed elements (eg. benches, quays, bird hides, signage etc.). That research has been the basis for the publication of an inventory entitled ‘Staalkaarten voor het Vechtpark’ (‘Samples for the Vecht park’). It can be used as a design manual which describes a ‘grammar’ for the upcoming park design (materials to use, proposals for planting). 

Meanwhile Atelier Veldwerk  realized several benches, a bird hide and railings, based on these guidelines.

Atelier Veldwerk realized, within the selected team, the design of elements for nature equipment in the national reserve ‘Zwin’ near the coast. The whole project was finished by the spring of 2016. While the architecture of the buildings communicate with the local sheds – and are thus like absently present –, the interventions in the landscape want to provoke a kind of natural self-evidence.

Together with the more apparent infrastructure, like wandering paths or equipment to sit on, other specific applications, like stork nests and view points, respect the ecological properties of the spot; eg. the very specific flora and the dynamics of the tides.

Atelier Veldwerk was responsible for the landscape part of the study, in collaboration with Atelier Deruyter. In short the propositions for  the castle domain come down to the activation of the landscape: by integrating a series of relatively small operations the landscape will be dynamic in a sensorial way.

Being present in the landscape – wandering, staying, to relax  – makes it possible to connect with it. The landscape.

Development of a public aromatic and medicinal garden in a popular park. Volunteers maintain the garden, one may pick the herbs freely. The project reflects on the layout and possible functions of public space.

‘Jardin Essentiel’ is a herbal and medicinal garden conceived  within the framework of the urban festival ‘Parckdesign’ in Brussels. About 30 species of plants, chosen for their different sensory qualities, were planted and used in different forms throughout a whole summer season. The field, a formerly dull lawn side of a park, is about 2500m². People were quite triggered by the different aspects of the project.The visually striking garden was so successful that the volunteers decided to keep and maintain the garden.

To the extent that the aromatic herb garden is a medical and nutrition site, the issue goes beyond our gardens and parks to include our kitchens, hospitals and cultural expressions. The cultural and social role of public spaces, the quest for the essential, and the growing involvement of local communities are issues that raise questions which resonate throughout the city: what is essential for our contemporary urban lifestyles? What do we expect from our parks today?

48 Plants. Course of Spring emerged in connection with an international program of phenological research The Motion of Spring 2012–2014: Evidences of Climate Change Over 120 Years’ organised on the territory of the Kaliningrad region by the students of the legendary teacher of the Kaliningrad dendrology studies Galina Kucheneva. The art project 48 Plants / Course of Spring was implemented by the NCCA (Baltic Branch of the National Centre for Contemporary Arts) and Atelier Veldwerk within the official framework of the Netherlands-Russia year 2013.

By discovering and studying urban space we were struck by the complex history of the city and the remarkable way in which the inhabitants manage the public space, the gardens and the plants. On these topics very little literature was available and on the botanical gardens of Kaliningrad nothing at all could be found. The conclusion was to do it ourselves and this resulted in a ‘short guide’ to the Kantiana Botanical Garden. This work can be seen as a gift from the artists to all the scientists and volunteers who have contributed to the preservation and maintenance of two exceptional botanical gardens of a city with an exceptional complex social and geo-political history.

The park design of the Wickelhofpark is a 13 ha. ‘condensed’ polder landscape. Atelier Veldwerk made the basic design of the park following a thorough visual analysis of the landscape. After categorizing the various elements the designs were drawn for the polder bridges, fences, benches and other lanscape elements. The design vision summarized existing functional elements so that no new layer has been added. The landscape is conceived as a public playground and it is based on the implicit possibilities that the landscape and related elements can offer (climbing, strolling, hiding, jumping ditches, fishing, ice skating, etc.) As a consequence no explicit playing  tools are included in the park.