Polishing pearls

Making country estates and rural villas ready for the future by devising a design that links their unique history with the current challenges

Country estates and rural villas are the pearls in the landscape of the Netherlands. In a rapidly changing urban and rural context, they are outstanding havens of calm, beauty and refinement. We help owners to bring out their historical qualities more. We restore and renovate, help them to devise financial models, incorporate new functions and increase biodiversity. We add contemporary design layers to the park designs of our predecessors, naturally with a view to preserving the coherence of the residence with its grounds, park and landscape. We also design garden ornaments: bridges, furniture, borders, fences, gateways and other architectural features.

Twickel – Renovation Overpark

Twickel, whose history goes back to the fourteenth century, is the largest estate in the Netherlands. In line with Michael van Gessel’s master plan, our practice has drawn up a renovation plan for the Overpark, based on respect for the historical park design and adjustment to the new circumstances.

Beetsterzwaag and Olterterp park landscape

The Beetsterzwaag and Olterterp park landscape lies like an island of woods, lanes and compact open spaces in the sweeping Friesian countryside. In the course of the twentieth century this park landscape slowly entered a period of decay. After an in-depth study of the history of the area, we drew up a spatial vision for the future for the whole ensemble and for the separate estates and country homes. 

Lankheet water purification park

In our design for Lankheet, the working of the water purification system and the course of the water in that process have been made as clear as possible. In addition, we have deployed a large number of design tools to turn the purification park into a pleasure garden in the tradition of water gardens like the Villa d’Este in Tivoli, Italy.

Experience Country estates