HOUSE IN THE BOG
In the heart of the Nieuwkoopse plassen this garden reimagines the characteristics of the old turf winning landscape that is now a nature reserve.
While the former inhabitants of the plot had a short monocultural lawn, straight-cut hedges of buxus and neat flowerbeds, we aim to merge the new houses and the garden back into the surrounding landscape of the bog. Every house is embedded into this new garden through referencing characteristic cultural and natural elements of the surroundings. Like the slightly heightened fruit tree orchard typical for farmyards in peatlands or the meandering small paths following the edgy shorelines moving in and out of reed, elder and birch tree 'rooms'.
The straight line of the former ‘legakker’ - a land strip of peat ground where turf was laid out to dry - is the central axis of the site. Along it we are creating a gradual transition of the garden into the nature reserve through mimicking the surrounding vegetation of reed-lands with wetland forests. Small paths cut through the ecologically maintained rough meadow with mowed 'rooms' allowing for different uses like playing football or having dinners in the field.
Looking at historic maps we created new waters that spatially differentiate each house. By making different water depths we are stimulating a variety of peat habitats and supporting the diversity of the local ecosystem.
House in the Bog has a private client and is executed in close collaboration with landscape gardener Inge Bongers and architect Enzo Valerio.
We started our collaboration in 2022, the project execution will be finished in 2025.
overlapping plan and history as a starting point to develop a new garden for the house in the bog
a landscape transforming from bog to turf field to water and growing back into wetland forest
how can we make a garden that is part of it’s surroundings?
the maintenance work of the gardener reveals a diversity of habitats and slowly transforms the old garden into a new landscape
the design encourages the development of a great diversity of local habitats, such as the pillows of peatmosses found on the ‘legakker’
together with a variety of vegetation experts we get to know the site and it’s potentials
slowly the new ecological maintenance scheme rewilds the old lawn
together with the architects we make 1:1 test situations and material try-outs
with old fruit trees we create a new orchard
every house is related to a specific characteristic of the bog garden - like the orchard house is embedded into a collection of fruittrees
new waters remind of the setup of the old farmyard and create sightlines into the nature reserve
with the new waters we create routes and islands - a variety of water depths allow for differences in wet biotopes
check out the stories of @enzovalerio to follow the construction process