RAAAF: The new fort can be understood as an enormous grass sculpture integrating both new and historical elements such as the bunkers, the bombproof buildings, old inundation locks, the new Fort house and the amphitheatre. The design takes its inspiration from the fort’s rich past without historicizing it. The fort forms the playground for a wide variety of local and regional activities. As such, it forms an example of a new type of public domain and has become one of the major attractions in the New Dutch Waterline (NDW).

Fort “Werk aan ‘t Spoel” is a national monument dating from 1794. As part of the NDW – a military defense line making use of intentional flooding – it served to protect one of the inundation locks. The municipality of Culemborg and Foundation Werk aan ‘t Spoel liked to see the derelict fort become a public attraction. RAAAF | Atelier de Lyon have translated these ambitions into a cohesive design in which the former inundation lock is referred to as well.

Client: municipality of Culemborg
Design: RAAAF & Atelier de Lyon
Design Fort house: Gent & Monk Architects
Military historian: Douwe Koen
Location: Lek dike – Culemborg, The Netherlands
Status: completion fall 2011
Photography: Rob ‘t Hart