LB10

Park huis Doorn mirrors in its stratification the different ways in which humans beholds and molds its natural environment. In Park Huis Doorn a number of primary motives can be discerned which offer an impression of the “natural-image”: a reflection of the self-image of man. The enlightenment, the romantic and the classical periods of gardening history all have left their impression on the grounds surrounding the last house of Keiser Wilhelm the second of Germany. The house has been ‘freeze framed' after Wilhelms death. The gardens on the other hand offer the possibility of a new interpretation.
The relation between 'humans' and ’nature’ has been on focus in recent decennia. The image of the earth and her nature changed with technological developments from a vast but imaginable abstraction to a small almost tangible and fragile body. At the same time technological developments also opened up a different intensified experience: genuine and in increasing extent virtual.
A set of interventions serve to add a layer wonderment and reflection top the garden. The elements refer to the oldest past and the primal strength of matter which contrast to with the transitoriness of the digital age.

A Folly
Rocks formations, large rocks, formed stones and stone clusters represent and stress the temporality of our existence with respect to the depth of the earth, the universe and time. Recreating under the seemingly weightlessness condition is as comforting as it is inhospitable.

The Bridge
The Arcadian bridge is the one that carries you effortless but slightly elevated to the opposite side of the stream. A surprisingly thin steel plate recovers the instability of the original Schwebbebrücke of Wilhelm II in reversed form. Two rocks at either side of the stream keep the plate in its place an evoke a squarishness romanticism.

The Fountainhead
The new source of Park Huis Doorn reinstates the origins of these grounds in a visible manner.