Gnomes, Trolls and Other RagamuffinsBeatrixpark, Almere, The Netherlands (1976–1982 / 1997–2002)

Type:Park

Designteam:Bureau B+B stedebouw en landschapsarchitectuur

Program:Playground, youth space, navigable water / recreational water, lake amphibian

Surface:24.7 acre

Budget:€ 2.500.000,-

Client:Municipality Almere

In the late 1970s, the bare Flevopolder represented a choice opportunity for the landscape architect to bring city and landscape into harmony. At Projectbureau Almere, so-called landscape development zones were developed: green wedges that penetrated the city from the outlying areas. In 1976, Bureau B+B, at that time still called ‘Brouwer and Bleeker’, were commis-sioned to conceive an overall design for the north-western wedge (provisionally named Ebenezer Howard Park, and subsequently renamed Beatrixpark), 125 hectares in size. The park was laid out as a framework, this based on the idea that the details could be filled in when the neighbourhoods around it had been realized, which indeed took place around 2000. The initial drawings are analytic in character. The backbone of the park was the main boat route, a rec-reational body of water connected to the sailing routes outside the city. The park had a markedly different appearance on the two

respective sides of this canal. The northern side was more cultivated, the southern side rougher. The park’s design exhibited all of the features of a location in a new polder: it was relatively straight-lined, with mas-sive squares of woods alternating with large open areas, indigenous tree species and paths with wide profiles. Besides the predetermined programme, the designers introduced a less tangible component: at-mosphere. According to the firm, ‘the wood must stimulate the imagination, conjure up a feeling of mystery, while the hidden presence of gnomes, trolls and other raga-muffins should clearly be felt at a number of spots.’ Twenty years later, in 1997, the framework of Beatrixpark was in need of re-finement. In connection with the modifica-tions, once again executed by Bureau B+B, the vast majority of neighbourhood resi-dents indicated that they still enjoyed the park’s mysterious qualities by opting for the design variant ‘the hidden world’. The park

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was divided into two distinct parts: an intensive side, with new facilities appropriate to a fully matured park, such as a flower meadow, playground, an esplanade and sports field, and an extensive side, where the park’s self-contained character was preserved. A new walking route connected all parts of the park with one another. A special part of the original design is the cemetery at the northern extreme of the green wedge. Its location be-side Almere’s urban motorway led to opting for sturdy, simple forms. The existing broad traffic route traversing the terrain was not conceived of as an impediment, but

deployed as a central axis. The square grave fields lie on either side, bordered by a wood-like planting. The grave fields were raised by 2 m, but not the paths, yielding a clear architectural visual quality. An unplanted margin between the motorway and the cemetery, with a view of the massive, angular edges of the wood made the com-plex clearly recognizable: ‘You try to make something autonomous as to form… Some designers tend to think of green as a space filler. We do our best not to soften or hide away things with green.’