Glass Visitor Center Park Vijversburg / STUDIO MAKS

Daniel Tapia

7 years ago

Architects: STUDIO MAKS
Location: Tytsjerk, The Netherlands
Architects: Marieke Kums + Junya Ishigami + ass
Area: 270.0 m2
Project Year: 2017
Photographs: Iwan Baan

Structural Engineering: ABT B.V. with Jun Sato Structural Engineers
Climate Engineering: ABT B.V.
Project Management: Mart Lenis Bouwmannegment & advies
Program: Kie Ellens
General Contractor: Jurriëns Noord BV & Friso Bouwgroep
Glass Construction: Steinfort Glas BV
Steel Works: Matel Metaal BV
Concrete Works: Veenstra BV
Glazing: IFS SGT
Mep: Reekers BV
Electrical: Hiemstra BV
Roofing: Intercodam & Willfra
Client: Op Toutenburg Foundation

From the architect. Park Vijversburg, situated in the north of the Netherlands, is an 18^th century estate that has been open to the public since 1892. Throughout the year, the park hosts many events such as international art exhibitions, musical performances, church services and excursions.

In 2011 Kums and Ishigami won the competition for a new visitor center. To accommodate the increasing number of visitors, the client asked for a new extension to the historical villa to be used as a meeting and exhibition space. The old villa and surrounding park were to be treated with the utmost care, as they are both national monuments.

“We wanted to make a most subtle intervention. Although the pavilion is an architectural project, it was designed and imagined as part of the landscape,” says Kums. The design consists of three lines, thin glass facades that stretch into the park and follow the existing natural elements: a pond, a tree line, and the villa garden. These three elevations reflect the natural surroundings and make the pavilion and landscape blend into one another.

The central space lies partially sunken into the landscape; softly undulating slopes guide visitors from the large scale exterior of the park into the heart of the building, one meter below ground level. It thus reduces the impact of the building on its surroundings, gives the interior a certain intimacy and provides visitors with another perspective on the landscape.

In order to create fully unobstructed views towards the surroundings, the use of additional structural elements, such as columns and walls, were avoided. Instead, the insulated and extra clear glass walls themselves carry the roof. The triangular shape helps to avoid using transverse walls while maintaining a free span of fifteen meters. This innovative structural glazing design was developed in collaboration with ABT and Jun Sato structural engineers.

Park Vijversburg recently reopened. Besides the above-mentioned visitor center, Kums renovated the monumental villa and designed the surrounding landscape and co-designed a park building and open air stage with Ishigami. The park was further expanded with an additional fifteen hectares of new landscape designs by LOLA Landscape, Deltavormgroep, Piet Oudolf and Tobias Rehberger.