Go, and build villa’s in a Belgian landscape park
December 27th, 2007 by HvdE
… was my first, slightly cynical reaction on reports across the web that speak of an endangered landscape park in Belgium. But it may turn out quite OK in the end, maybe.
The endangered park is surrounding the so-called Kasteel van Walle, near Kortrijk. The danger comes in the form of a property developer called Samainvest, who wants to divide the garden in six parts to build villa’s on. The very idea reminded me of destructive plans from for instance the 1950’s for the ‘restructuring’ of former gardens. One such plan was made for Beeckestijn when it was at its lowest, but that did not become a reality. But there are many others that have been executed (the plans, I mean), resulting in anomalies like the beautiful Chinese pavilion the French architect Jean-Marie Morel built in l’Isle-Adam (just north of Paris), which now stands alone on te edge of a huge lake and…villa-park.
The Chinese pavilion by Jean-Marie Morel in l’Isle-Adam. Photo by yxelle [via].
A touch of reading into the matter made me more mellow about the whole idea, though. Continue Reading »
