New ideas and concepts for urban architecture and landscape architecture from the Netherlands: this survey takes stock of the current situation.
In any discussion on contemporary landscape architecture, visionary urban development or revolutionary building, it is impossible to overlook the Netherlands. The experts look to this small, flat country which constantly seeks to exceed its narrow boundaries by creating new space. The Netherlands is crowded and so it is hardly surprising that architects endeavour to "stack" landscapes and functions as the Dutch pavilion in the Expo 2000, designed by MVRDV demonstrated.publiarq.com
Here, new ideas and concepts in architecture and landscape design fall on the fertile ground. Rem Koolhaas had prepared the way: nothing must stay as it is, even the open countryside and the towns can be changed, moulded, shaped. The Dutch are experts at building in the sea, on polders, on man-made islands, and on former harbour areas as in Rotterdam Kop van Zuid. Architecture and landscape architecture are not only a matter of public interest but they are ongoing processes in the Netherlands, and this is reflected in many of the projects in this book which include the gardens and squares of West 8, the Museumsplein in Amsterdam, the town planning in Zutphen or Apeldoorn. The examples have all been published in different contexts in Topos, but this is the first time that they have been collated to provide an illuminating overview of contemporary Dutch landscape architecture.