Commissioned by the Bruges Triennial 2024, Raamland is a transformation of a slumbering site in the centre of Bruges into a generous community garden. A place for horticulture as well as for contemplation, gathering, and discussion. The project acts as a testbed that speculates about the past and future of the site and the surrounding city by incorporating found materials and overlooked histories. New structures, assembled from fragments of demolished buildings, define a secluded public space that references Bruges’ many historical walled gardens where plants were cultivated, shielded from wind and frost. The new garden borrows its name from a medieval map describing the area as Raamland, a place for textile production where numerous “raamen”, or wooden frames, were used to hang cloth to dry.
A visit to Raamland unfolds in a sequence of spaces, framed views, and elements. When entering through the wall on Sint-Obrechtsstraat, one is immersed in an ambiguous open-air space, somewhere in-between a wild garden, a construction site, and a domestic interior. Indigenous vegetables, herbs, and berries surround a set of elements that support a variety of activities, including a campfire set in an open hearth, a long table for dining and conversation, and a grand central compost. A framework facing the garden is clad in a white fabric, a leftover found at the Triennial’s warehouse, that acts as an abstract canvas for these elements as well as for found windows and doors, each with its own distinct materiality. A detached roof creates a space protected from wind and sun.
The project investigates where and how used building elements and materials in and around Bruges are handled. What is the value of something once it is deinstalled? What is being saved and what is being wasted? Considering a range of different categories of material, the project imagines an architecture of multiple origins and temporalities. Window blinds from a luxurious villa, sheet metal panels from an abandoned dance club, a grand mantelpiece in stone, debris from demolition sites and industrial recycling centres, as well as material from previous triennials. When assembled, they emphasise that the architecture of the city is “live” – that it is an assemblage undergoing slow but constant change.
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RAAMLAND
Community garden, Bruges, Belgium
Architect: Norell/Rodhe
Commissioned by Bruges Triennial 2024: Spaces of Possibility
Curators: Shendy Gardin and Sevie Tsampalla
Local architects: Dertien 12
Landscape architect: Plant en Houtgoed
Photographs: © Filip Dujardin, © Norell/Rodhe
