My reason for Blogging:

I'm Joe Sanders, currently an Undergraduate Landscape Architect Student in my 3rd year at Kingston University. This blog records my own experiences within the field of Landscape and related topics, all shared online to encourage myself and others to gain a wider experience of 'Landscape'.

Sunday 16 January 2011

Bunker 599



Bunker 599 is a project recently completed by Dutch firms Atelier de Lyon and Rietveld Landscape. The project aims to rediscover the military line of defense in use from 1815 – 1940 to protect the cities Muiden, Utrecht, Vreeswijk and Gorinchem from intentional flooding in the Netherlands. The project has sliced open one of 700 remaining bunkers, opening up the insides to public view. A long wooden boardwalk cuts through the halved bunker, leading the visitors down to a flooded area. The bunker is visible form a nearby main road and is seen by many passers by each day. This small project is part of a larger strategy plan by the designers to make this part of the unique Dutch history more accessible to visitors. I find this project fascinating in what it has achieved, exhibiting the inside spaces of a ‘secretive’ bunker and revealing the heavy construction. However I feel such monuments hold a special character due to being left as they are, the design is incredibly intrusive of the structure. With this being 1 of another 699 I don’t specifically feel this is a major issue. Images and information used within the text sourced from 'http://www.rietveldlandscape.com/en/projects/7'



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