Baronie Land van Winkel Abcoude

Not far from Amsterdam is Abcoude, a charming village in a very Dutch polder landscape. It is a green landscape sliced by small rivers that meander past old estates and country houses. On the edge of Abcoude will be a new residential neighbourhood: Land van Winkel. BOOM Landscape designed the grounds and the setting for the four buildings of De Baronie, an island of homes that forms the gateway into the residential neighbourhood.

Four typologies reference a noble past

The island site will have four buildings with an historical typology. The four-storey ‘Manor House’ houses six luxury apartments and one large penthouse. The Coach House has four homes and has been architecturally inspired by the traditional English cottage. The Orangery has two large homes under one roof. And the Stalls contain the storage sheds and parking for residents.

Paths in landscape style

The Manor House is centrally positioned on the island and is fronted by a large open forecourt connected to the winding network of paths that links all the buildings. In keeping with the classic style of a noble estate, we designed the grounds with the structured informality of the English landscape style.

Plants

The landscape was designed to mitigate the rather large buildings and their close proximity to each other. Placing several well-positioned, large clusters of plants in the shared and public spaces of the island allowed us to create a sense of spatiality. The experience of moving through and around green spaces also helps to read the buildings as a natural part of the surrounding landscape. In addition, the good mixture of plant species will attract a variety of birds in all seasons.

Bridges and balconies

Finally, we designed the bridges to the island. The guiding motif we used was a key. Keys in different sizes were multiplied to create a pattern for the railings, and the result is a real eyecatcher.