Botanica Atlanta | Landscape Design, Construction & Maintenance

The picture below shows a bridge. The structure carries visitors from the forest on the left, across the wide, muddy, moat, and up the steep embankments of the historic fort on the right.

Please do not be surprised if you cannot actually see the bridge. The designers of it were going for precisely that effect. Conceived by RO&AD, a Dutch architecture and landscape architecture firm, this “bridge” provides access to the centuries-old Fort de Roovere in the Netherlands.

For reasons that should be quite obvious, this ingenious, waters-parting walkway calls to mind the biblical legend of Moses providing passage across the Red Sea.

Through the structure’s creative engineering, visitors are now able to follow in the path of an invading soldier. To enter the walls of the fort, a person descends the outside bank, walks beneath the surface of the brown, murky moat, and then climbs the steep, two-tiered fortification. This sequenced entrance experience is certainly more welcoming now than it was historically, but it still maintains a revelatory fraction of the physical and psychological intimidation that the fort must have presented to attacking forces.

There are far too many instances of modern architecture overpowering the landscape in which it is built. Though the Moses Bridge has all of the marks of modern architecture – clean, straight lines, sleek detailing, and a heavy presence of wood slats – this structure is anything but obtrusive. I believe that in environmental design, just as with human speech, there are times for shouting and times for whispering, and RO&AD was able to fulfill a functional need while still recognizing that their architectural voice should be low and restrained in the fort’s historic setting.

All in all, the structure is an excellent example of a creative, calculated, and responsible architectural intervention. The design is sensitive to Fort de Roovere, following its cues and sticking to its slopes, and it is environmentally sensitive as well, featuring wood that is both FSC and PEFC certified. It is no surprise to me that this project was recently awarded Building of the Year 2011 from the BNA (Union of Dutch Architects.)

All images from RO&AD Architecten

For a moment, try to think back to the first image that I presented. Imagine a conventionally designed bridge arching and spanning across the moat, and ask yourself what visual impact that might have had on the surrounding fort. It is remarkable that the designers were able to come up with and execute their unique, creative vision in order to preserve the original character of the historic landscape.

Author: Sam Valentine, BLA, LEED AP