Vijversburg Park Visitor Centre
- Roland Pawlitschko
Loadbearing glass facades and the interaction of transparency and reflection enable the new pavilion in Vijversburg Park with its three branching wings to blend with the surrounding green space. Located in the north of the Netherlands, this park once formed part of an estate that has been open to the public since 1892. The growing number of visitors and events combined with the increase in size of the park from 15 to 30 hectares led to a competition for an extension to the rural villa that is used as the visitors centre. The client wanted a large, multi-functional space to host events, concerts and exhibitions, sensitively inserted in the park, which would expand the series of small-scale spaces in this listed building. Marieke Kums from Studio Maks in Rotterdam and Japanese architect Junya Ishigami designed a pavilion that can be read both as a subtle architectural intervention and a natural part of the landscape. Its three curved glass facades follow three existing natural boundaries on the site - a pond, a row of trees and the garden of the villa.
