The nature organisation ‘It Fryske Gea’ wanted to mark its 75th anniversary with a memorial. Raerderbosk, the land chosen for this memorial, was gifted at the beginning of the 20th century. The organisation wanted to tell visitors a few things about itself, but also about local history. Also, a walk through the park would be enriched by stories.

Inside the park, there used to be a stins – a kind of fortified stone house characteristic to Friesland. We wanted visitors to experience this. First, we put up a gate where the front door used to be. There is a short text inside the gate with some background information. Steel corners in the landscape show where the body of the house and both wings used to be. Corten steel was chosen because it rusts without further oxidisation. This creates a natural look and blends in into the background: the park.

In a corner of the park, along a path, there is a viewer. If you look through, you can see a 3D line drawing of the ‘stins’, based on old photographs and drawings. Through the viewer, you can see the old building as a dream in the present day: augmented reality ‘avant la lettre’!

www.itfryskegea.nl