cv | works | sculptures | site specific | environmental | land art | architectural | publications | exhibitions | symposia/lectures | cities | encounters | accounts
CITIES - sculptures and land art
Dirksland Sommelsdijk & Middelharnis
1984/1990 and designs for Highway S47 (now N215)
The Provincial Department of Construction of the Province of Zuid-Holland NL, asked the sculptor Lucien den Arend to make a proposal for the new stretch of highway S47 (now N215) which was to bypass the towns Middelharnis, Sommelsdijk and Dirksland on the island of Goeree-Overflakkee in Zuid-Holland. He was to take into account the inherent qualities of the Goeree-Overflakkee landscape and visualize how the highway could be related to its surroundings by way of the integration of art. The Dirksland bridge was one of the main elements designed and realized by Lucien den Arend in this project.
N215
- an artistic approach, by Lucien den Arend
In 1984 the ''Praktijkbureau Beeldende Kunstopdrachten'' and the Provincial
department of Construction of the province of Zuid-Holland NL (Office for Public
Art Commissions) commissioned me to make a study of the provincial plans to
project a ring-road, the S47 - now the N215 - bypassing the towns of
Middelharnis, Sommelsdijk and Dirksland in the province, South Holland. I was to
explore the possibilities for implementing innovations resulting from an
artistic perception of the plans. The Praktijkbureau was founded to explore new
possibilities for art in the public space. My involvement started out as an
experiment. After presenting my report, most of my proposals were accepted and I
was asked to join the team of the construction phase.
The area to be studied was the former island Goeree-Overflakkee, in the
south-west of The Netherlands. It is a typical Dutch polder-land - everything
made by man. For many centuries this part of Holland has been enlarged by
recapturing land from the sea and cultivated. This was a gradual change.
the road in its surroundings
Whenever a new large scale project like this one is undertaken, there is the
danger that too much of the original surroundings are lost in the attempt to fit
the new into the old situation. In this process the original infrastructure is
adapted to the direction and character of the road - drainage ditches are added
and lines of trees are planted along its axis. In this way the accent is moved
from the rural landscape to the throughway. Much damage has already been done
following this strain of thought. But this is not all - after the engineers have
gone, an even more damaging phase is provoked and eventually even encouraged -
the areas bordering the road are adapted to it and before too many years have
passed the original unity is split in half and invaded by a new entity - the
road environment.
My first proposal was to let the new road be as minimal as possible and have the
existing characteristic elements of this landscape to be left untouched and even
be restored as close to the road as was realizable. For the north section the
planning was already too far and, what I had feared, happened. The provincial
planners agreed with me and the second road-section in the Dirksland Polder was
constructed according to my proposals.
continued
CITIES