LIVING LANDSCAPE
Most Dutch people prefer a spacious dwelling with a garden in a green, scenic area. Preferably it has to be accessible by car and with as many (urban) facilities within the vicinity as possible. This preference is rooted in the Dutch mindset, dating back to the post-war escape from the city, in search of fresh air and a healthier outdoor life. In a country as dense as the Netherlands where we have to use the available ground intensively, this anti-urban living ideal is hard to obtain. It creates some spatial dilemmas. A lot of Dutch people are living in a compromise: row housing in a suburban area. The question is, does this dwelling typology fit the preference of the Dutch dweller? The suburban areas were introduced to flee the city and live closer to the open landscape. Instead it became a threat to this same landscape.
The big challenge for the future is to create living environments which themselves generate a valuable landscape instead of taking from the existing landscape. Dwellings, apartments and suburbs which are not built in the landscape, but with the landscape in which they become an element of the landscape itself. Can we design a living landscape in the same density as current suburbs, yet with a completely different spatial and scenic experience?
PROJECTS IN THEME
LIVING LANDSCAPE 1.02010, URBAN FRINGE
SUPERVILLAGE2005, SOUTHEAST BRABANT
SUBURBAN BLISS2005, ROTTERDAM, HOOGVLIET