Article source: M& DB architecten

Kinderijk is the prime example of a Dutch windmill landscape. In 1997, the landscape’s ensemble of mills and pumping stations was declared a Unesco World Heritage Site. Suddenly Kinderdijk was overrun by busloads of tourists turning the area into a logistical nightmare. The entrance area was turned into a parking lot for tourbuses, the little ramshackle iceskating clubhouse was converted into a provisional souvenir shop and the narrow quays filled up with rows of potable toilet cabins. Overnight the windmills had disappeared behind a wall of clutter.

Today, the area is accessed by a sequence of strategically positioned bridges, paths and visitor facilities. The buses are banned to the stop & go on the edge of the area. Instead of the clubhouse, the new Visitor Center is positioned half on water and land restoring the long visual line running along the quay. The Visitor Center’s clever design unbundles the different visitor flows and its subtle architectural language restores the landscape’s identity. Again, as in the early nineties, the windmills – the icons of Kinderdijk – can be seen on arrival.

Image Courtesy © Ossip van Duivenbode

• Architects: M& DB architecten
• Project: Kinderdijk Visitor Center
• Location: Kinderdijk, The Netherlands
• Photography: Ossip Architectuur Fotografie
  
• Client: Stichting Werelderfgoed Kinderdijk (SWEK)
• Completion: 2019
• Competition: open international, 2014, winner

(more…)