Flintenwaand Gasselterveld

The Aa and Hunze local authority has invited Strootman landschapsarchitecten to investigate where and how a wall ('the Flintenwaand') can be properly inserted in the landscape. The idea for the Flintenwaand was developed by Egbert Meijers in 2014. The wall is intended as a tangible marker in the landscape of the peculiar geological origins of Drenthe.

Location

Gasselterveld, Aa en Hunze, Drenthe

Principal

Gemeente Aa en Hunze

Partners

Oldehanter Bouwconstructies

Surface Area

1,5 ha

Design Year

2015-2016

Implementation

2016-

In the shelter of the timber forest of the Gasselterveld, on the edge of an enormous sand extraction lake, the huts and lorries of the sand extractors will be replaced by a beach for bathing with an eye-catching large flint wall (Flintenwaand).

A flint is another name for a boulder. The Flintenwaand rises to 10 metres high on the new beach beside the Grote Plas, winds its way through the wood as a grassy dike, is intersected by the road through the wood, and ends in a fan-shaped cluster of loose boulders in the Nije Hemelriek. It is an educational and edifying monument, a watchtower, a podium, a play area and above all a landmark that identifies the recreational heart of the Gasselterbos.

The idea for the Flintenwaand was developed by Egbert Meijers in 2014. The wall is intended as a tangible marker in the landscape of the peculiar geological origins of Drenthe. The Aa and Hunze local authority considers that the Flintenwaand accords well with the Spatial Development Vision Gasselterveld 2010 and has invited Strootman landschapsarchitecten to investigate where and how the wall can be properly inserted in the landscape. In conjunction with the local authority, Staatsbosbeeer and Geopark de Hondsrug, Strootman has taken the idea of the Flintenwaand further so that the story of the centuries-old geological subsoil is told.

The idea of Egbert Meijers is based on a wall 10 metres high and 45 metres wide. The wall refers to the thickness of the land ice (1000 m) and the width of the ice flow (45 km) in the penultimate Ice Age, the Saalian. The waves in the wall are symbols of the sand ridges in Drenthe. The meandering ground dike refers to the ice flow that formed the sand ridges of Drenthe in the Ice Age. The boulders that the ice flow left behind recur in the design in the form of a fan-shaped cluster of boulders.

The Flintenwaand itself has two faces: the convex north side and the concave south side, which are very different from one another in terms of material and use. The convex north side is shady. The wall here cannot be taken in at a glance, but invites a closer inspection in detail. Various polished flints are applied at eye level containing information about the types of stone, their origin, and the Flintenwaand as a whole. The concave south side is sunny. The wall heats up in the spring, making it a pleasant place to spend some time. The concave form makes the space intimate. The south side invites spontaneous use, for example as a podium or echo wall. The wall can also be experienced in its totality by observing how the waves make their way from the bottom to the top.

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