Circle Path
Type: Public Space / Art Location: Almere Client: Stichting Bosland Team: Bart Reuser, Marijn Schenk, Michel Schreinemachers, John van de Water with Stan Wagter, Marrit deJong Cost: Euro 1.000.000,00 Competition: 3rd Prize First design: 2001-09-01 Status: On hold
design for 1 hectare ‘museum’-forest
This is not a design for a new forest but an operation that puts the existing forest in a new perspective. Just like a museum designer is unconcerned with museological objects as such, but rather focuses on the way people look at them, we took this assignment as a chance to transform the woods into a woods museum by creating the possibility of a new kind of perception.
Adding a circular path with a 100-m diameter provides the woods with an extra dimension. On one end, the path reaches a height of 35 m and provides a view of the horizon, on the other end it drops to 3 m underground so people can experience the woods at ant height. The raised end of the path encloses a section of the woods and this creates an exceptional spot. The hectare of woodland that is shut in by the path will remain unkempt and transform into primeval forest, which makes it an example of the transformations woods may undergo through the years.
Over the past 27 years, the woods, which was originally a poplar plantation, has already developed into a highly varied section of forest, full of different types of plants, trees and animals. The process can be observed from the different levels of the circular path over the years: from bird’s-eye view to worm perspective. Creating the circular path requires a total of approximately 42 km of bamboo consisting of 18,750 trunks of 2.2 m long. We are still looking for financing.
