PARK21

Park 21 will be a new, 1000-hectare metropolitan park with international allure in the Haarlemmermeer. The master plan for this park was designed in 2009-2011 by Vista; Strootman has designed the first subsidiary plan and elaborated it as the level of the programme of requirements. Construction started in the summer of 2014.

The design for the first subsidiary plan consists of a sustainable framework of park woodland with native trees, shrubs and herbs and a high ecological value. Once it has been planted, the wood requires hardly any maintenance and keeps itself going. The way it is planted and the choice of species make the wood attractive even in its young years. In and around the wood framework we have introduced special features with bushes, groups of unusual trees (including exotic trees and cultivars), herb vegetation, covering vegetation, wet and dry meadows, and wild bulbs. Lupines in two colours are sown in a wavy graphic pattern as a fertiliser and will provide a visual spectacle when they flower in the summer. The presence of slopes and transitions in the relief ensures a high potential natural value.

Together with the pattern of the paths, we have designed the interplay between wood, open areas and accents to result in an exciting and surprising park wood. The design introduces variation in the spatial structure: open/closed, closedness/openness and viewpoints. At six points in the park wood, where the trees are planted less closely together, and often on a somewhat higher point, there is an accent with an unusual tree species by itself, in a cluster of trees, or to frame the space. These exotic trees catch the attention for their bark, blossom, shape and/or colour in the autumn. Subsidiary plan 1 lays the basis for how to handle planting in the rest of Park 21. It sets the tone for the rest of the park and shows what it will look like: it is the Park 21 visiting card.