Haarijn, Utrecht : artificial beach project

We have been working for a while on an artificial beach near the city of Utrecht, on the edge of a large lake created by sand mining. These collages are meant to capture the atmosphere of the design we propose. Large oval shaped mounded dunes partially covered with grasses, worn wooden poles anchoring the hills of sand, wooden walkways creating flows of walkers, long terraces facing the sun… It made me want to go to this place, that exists only on paper for the moment. That is the odd thing about making representations of landscape- you have to understand the thing in your head first on a technical level, and then find a story about what kind of life will be breathed into the design by the activity of people. That’s when it can become a place.