Adriaan Geuze: Landmaking

Photo: Geoff Oliver Bugbee, www.geoffbugbee.com

I heard Richard Kogan, concert pianist (Juilliard) and psychiatrist (Harvard medical) discuss and play the work of George Gershwin last night. Incredible passion and playing interrupted by a compelling story of the composer's life.

A reminder: bloggers, please tag your posts with "IF06" or "ideaFestival06."

This morning, Adriaan Geuze and David Mohney will tackle Landscape Illusions. Kris Kimel makes a few announcements. Mohney says the college of landscape architecture at UK has sponsored Geuze and a nearby exhibit of West8 work.

He describes his work. "Life" and university contribute to understanding. He says a "spiritual drive" is very important. Holland is small and has a problem with sprawl. Some home-grown companies leave for other European countries. The pastoral authentic landscape of land nearby cities has been "cannibalized." Landscape architecture in many cases is damaging the landscape. He desires to protect the balance between old and new by protecting green space.

He shows the sprawl, which he characterizes as being like Los Angeles. It's not Dutch in his view. To understand the land, he wrote a book describing the history of Dutch landscape. Reclaimed land constitutes about 60 percent of the current landscape.

Describing landscape technology, he said the 16th and 17th century was a golden age of Dutch engineering.

The making of the land was such a success, landscape painting emerged as an art form. The pictures are lush, golden-hued, robust and vital. And of course the new wind machines - windmills - were prominently featured, as well as picture and schematics of pumping devices. As for the landscape, "this beautiful illumination by God," Dutch painters illustrated it with light.

He described market oriented politics, which emerged in the 19th century(?). A strong counter movement against private enterprise claiming so much land arose. Dutch land making was in a crises. 

A new group, including architects, determined new ways of developing lands that did not defer excessively to capital:

• New claiming of land should have a master plan
• Do it with trial and error. Learn by mistake.
• A political body will do implementation.

Hydrology was futher developed. After the second World War, a catastrophe inundated the south of Holland in one night, which dramatically affected the Dutch. But the climax of the new planning culminated in some of the best soils imaginable for cultivation.

He says all this to suggest that in the making of a landscape book, he was able to confront the problems he saw, to confront plans to build millions of houses in a sprawling landscape.

His firm did modeling to illustrate the size of "millions of houses" in Holland, which it built on the Parliament square - to scale - to make a point.

The firm also developed inflatable cows to place in doomed areas. The inflatable cows are 20-30 feet high and are placed next to highways. Dutch public television documented the cows.

Projects

For the second part of his presentation, he describes plans in Amsterdam to connect parts of the city in the sea. His firm proposed a plan to reclaim new land that would simultaneously clean a badly polluted and dead lake. The sand from the lake can be used for new land and housing.

For another project, "Barbie design" is employed. He calls it sentimental design. The landscape plan looks like "hearts" and "broken hearts," which is what a park should be like. What is a park, he asks, but a place were boy meets girl? The final design will be "the most feminine" city ever designed.

Jubilee Gardens is an icon of the Dover Cliffs. The icon of the cliffs symbolize European problems - the separateness of England. It's an issue for Europe because when the English are separate, he deadpans, the "French take over." The project is very green because English greenery is everywhere - also very symbolic. The park will be built next year.

He next describes the Madrid highway project, which, like Boston, will put the highway underground. The mayor ran on getting rid of the highway. West8 won a competition to finish the project (bury the road?).

The firm will deliver political support in the form of thousands of pines to Madrid, just in time to get the mayor reelected. The pines will also be "tortured" so that they show character and a variety of growing patterns. It reminds me of Japanese landscape symbolism. The bridge architecture spanning waterways is also similarly fantastic.

He described the Toronto waterfront project. The waterfront makes great use of wood for a promenade. Floating timber is a design touch point. It also informs the design of an artificial jetty to help water quality. As with Madrid, some work has begun in support of the mayor's reelection.

Wayne