interdisciplinary elective course, TU Delft, group project, 2023
mentors: Saskia De Wit, Monica Veras Morais
The iconic Dutch artist Henk Chabot (1894-1949) lived in a small house near the Rotte, where he looked at the open polderscape and the ever-changing sky. It is there that he produced his iconic depictions of the Dutch landscape, like The Fire of Rotterdam. However, in the past century, due to the expansive urbanization along the Maas and the recreationisation of the polders along the Rotte, the area where Chabot lived remains as the only fragment of that open and quiet landscape. The construction of the A16 highway only further divided the land. How can this place’s inherent qualities be emphasized, so that it can emerge as an expressionist, cultural landscape? To understand this unique and complex interstitial space, we spent a quarter on-site, exploring, documenting and imagining. We engaged with the locals through their meetings with the A-16 company and collaborated with a nearby school. After this exploration, we proposed that the nothingness of the area needs to be conserved. But for nothing to happen then something needs to be planned. Our plan creates a seasonal floodscape, an expanded polder-forest and a locally maintained orchard. To exemplify our design we constructed a temporary theatre of sky, a single-day exhibition of our work on-site in a mowed amphitheatre, accompanied by a performance and the construction of 50 stools to give away to the visitors. This project was presented to the Municipality of Rotterdam and will be considered for the future of the Land van Chabot.
In collaboration with Observatorium, A16 Rotterdam & Chabot Museum.
You can see the project’s website here.
You can read more about the project here.
1 – The field
An expansive flowery field is designed for various forms of recreation and entertainment, a gentle slope and subtle terrain elevations is created, allowing for water fluctuation in different seasons. The overarching aim is to foster a gradual process of natural succession. We will initially seed the plain soil in random patterns to enhance plant heterogeneity and allow nature to do the magic. This area functions as a water retention basin, with more water being introduced during rainy periods, filling the slope with ponds of various sizes and shapes – eventually unifying into a larger water basin. Through this, the landscape becomes as ever-changing and dynamic as the weather conditions.
2 – Forest
The forest represents a preserved natural area primarily for non-human inhabitants. Here we allow maximum natural succession, as the biological hotspot, the forest should be minimally disturbed by human activities. An entrance and a path have been strategically designed at the forest’s border to enhance connectivity to the surrounding neighborhood, no further substantial human intervention will be employed. To compensate for the loss of trees during the highway construction, specific fruit trees and ponds will be introduced to the southern part of this area, thereby further augmenting biodiversity and providing a secure habitat for animals in the long run.
3 – Orchard
The orchards are planned to enhance the site’s productivity and, most importantly, reconnect the inhabitants with their sense of place in Land van Chabot. We welcome participatory maintenance, farmers from the neighborhood will be invited to maintain the orchard for ten years, and grazing and mowing are allowed. Benefits from the orchard will be extensively shared with the farmers. This initiative serves as a means to engage local residents deeply in place-making and helps to amplify their voices in decision-making concerning interventions within the site.
4 – Highway
The highway is a strong boundary in the area, but also a landscape of its own. Two clumps of tall poplar trees at the entrance marks the connection between highway and its surrounding landscape, and shields the cars from the view of the residents on the other side of the Rotte. A third clump joins the motorway embankment and the existing forest.
5- Horse meadows and fields The informal, fragmented and inaccessible character of this area will be maintained.
Theatre of Sky
Our idea was to create an amphitheater on the slope next to the Rotte, which would have a visual connection with the house of the artist Henk Chabot. Noticing the grass growing taller as we shaped the concept of an amphitheater, which would emphasize the different heights that exist on the site, mowing the grass became an important activity for the project. We started by drawing interconnected semi-circular walkways on paper, centered on a giant circle that would make up the stage. The first step was to execute this main stage using a reference point in the landscape and a wire to achieve the circular shape of the whole scene. Using this point of reference, the rest of the semi-circular corridors were later drawn on the ground with the technique illustrated more specifically in the archived images. Mowing a thin line first to have the desired shape and then clearing the path to give width to the corridor. Finally, we cleared the cut-dried grass to prepare the ground for the objects that would be situated and the event to take place.
