Time, architecture and transformation. A look at the result after ten years of patience.
In the gently rolling Brabant landscape in the Netherlands just to the west of Sint-Oedenrode lies the hamlet of Rijsingen. Close by, at a spot where the Dommel River has cut through the sandy soil since time immemorial, stands the KAPKAR/ TO-RXD landscape observatory, built in 2009. It forms part of a hiking trail that starts in the village centre and leads into the farmland around the settlement.
In 2009 Studio Frank Havermans developed a special tree bark casting. The skin of the concrete is coarse and rough like the nearby trees. A feature of this is the bark, left behind in the concrete after the formwork was removed.
It gives the concrete a natural appearance. In time it has rot away to transform the concrete skin and form its own patina in harmony with the landscape.
