New country estate Steenbergen

A series of new landscape features are being constructed in the vast clay polders of West Brabant, consisting of two new country estates and three country houses with spacious gardens. The site was originally a walnut orchard. The design will relocate some of the walnut trees. To be able to cope with the enormity of the emptiness of the landscape around it, the new country estate presents itself outwardly as large and as strong as possible, to thus create an inner world of intimacy and security. Windows will be created between the outer world and the inner world. The contrast between the outer and inner world is also reflected in the contrast between culture and nature, which is so characteristic of country estates.

Indigenous types of woods contrast with exotic species, and natural lines contrast with a staged stroll across the small new dike and the enigmatic islands, which seem to float on the emptiness and which will be planted with special tree species. The new country estate manifests itself to the outer world as a woodland mass that seeks out the scale of the polder. In the woodland border, recessed windows allow people on the outside to catch a glimpse of the special inner world, while they provide a view of the environment´s grand landscape for people on the inside. The inner world consists of farmlands containing two raised islands, one planted with cedar trees, the other with red beech. They are accessible from the sides via a small pathway. The islands are visible from the surroundings through the windows. The inner area is bordered by a small dike where walnut trees will be planted. The windows vary in breadth and in length, and comprise water features and flowery, wet grasslands.

Despite the fact that there will be five owners, the design manifests itself as a single recognizable element. There are two large country estate plots on the western side where each of the two country houses is situated at the top end of one of the windows. The residences stand partly in the water, like a staple between land and water. On the north-eastern side, three smaller plots are linked to a single window and a water feature. They have a joint access road.