Event Architecture designed three pocketparks for Park Lingezegen. Event Architecture was the winner of a design competition to stimulate landscape art, initiated by the Province of Gelderland. The question was to enrich the spacious Park Lingezegen by designing places of special significance. In the design of Event Architecture, these places have been elaborated into three archetypical pocketparks, referred to as Idylls: the Water Idyll, the Mountain Idyll and the Forest Idyll. The Idylls provide a “dramatic, intensified landscape experience”. They create space for peace and contemplation, in contrast to the bustling vibrancy of landscape park Lingezegen.

Three Idylls for Landscape Park Lingezegen

The three Idylls form a contemplative place in the large expanse of Lingezegen landscape park. They evoke a sense of wonderment and peace. The Idylls can be accessed through an entrance gate which can be found at the intersection of the outside- and inner world. The Idylls emulate the connection with the earth, the course of life, and its transience. This symbolism is represented in each of the three artworks. An urn wall has been included in the design for the Mountain Idyll. The Water Idyll serves as a place of remembrance for the dead. The Forest Idyll seeks connection with the ground by revealing the contours of a former castle.

Water Idyll

The Water Idyll is situated in the sub-area ‘Het Waterrijk’ (Rijkerswoerdse plassen) adjacent to the forest edge. At the heart of the plot, a pond has been excavated. The serrated waterline is reminiscent of the ditch pattern on the heavy clay founded meadows. The path around the pond offers panoramic perspectives on the fields and wetlands, situated along the river Linge. Elevations located at the end of the path provide space for contemplation.

Mountain Idyll

The Mountain Idyll transforms a complex location in Park Lingezegen, along the highway, into a peaceful place for visitors. The imaginative place covers terraces of herb vegetation and trees, situated in the middle of a triangular space. The edge of the Idyll consists of a series of forest-islands, altogether creating an important ecological stepping stone between the nature reserves of the rivers Rhine and Waal. The Idyll can be entered through the gate along the river Linge. The soil is shaped by a terrace structure. From the lowest level at the entrance gate, a gentle slope leads to the top of the terrace. From the top of this ‘mountain,’ a stunning view over the floodplain fields reveals itself. An urn wall of stacked paving slabs runs alongside this route. On the highway side, a stylistic designed slope seeks connection with the adjacent attachment of the viaduct.

Forest Idyll

The Forest Idyll is designed as a tribute to the rich history of this place as it set the stage for a 13th century castle. In the 17th century, this castle was replaced by the country house: Huize te Ressen. Due to the construction of several highways and its use as storage terrain, the place fell into disrepair. The Forest Idyll restores the area back from oblivion. Through the use of innovative concrete blocks, the shape and thickness of the former castle walls is demarcated. The entire construction is encased in a natural world of oak-birch forest, flowery grassland and orchards of fruit trees. A ring of small slopes around the former castle, constructed by the re-use of former land depots, ensures extra embedding. A semicircular seating is situated in the forest edge, situated in (sight)line with the tower of Ressen. Both the slopes and tree vegetation provide protection against the highway and create an intriguingly intimate and quite place in which visitors are invited to contemplate their own inner world.

Other designers involved in the design of landscape: All Idylls: EventArchitectuur – Herman Verkerk. Water Idyll: Veenebos en Bosch landschapsarchitecten and Paul Kuipers. Mountain Idyll: Feddes/Olthof landschapsarchitecten and Paul Kuipers. Forest Idyll: Feddes/Olthof landschapsarchitecten and Studio Ossidiana
Project location: Landscape Park Lingezegen. Address: (Project Office) De Park 10, 6661 NW Elst, The Netherlands.
Design year: 2010-2018
Year Built: 2013-2019

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