WRAPPED AROUND a MONUMENT

In 1928, Gerrit Feenstra designed the Villa Oase, in Ede, influenced by the Nieuwe Bouwen and De Stijl. Today classified as a monument, it was time for its new owners to match, in care and attention, its direct surroundings to the house itself.

In 2024, when contacted to redesign its surrounding garden, studio audal has worked both on revealing the past, by restoring hidden walls and traces and on carrying it forward, to reconnect it to Nature and biodiversity.

Drawing inspiration from the concept hidden in the building’s name Oase (Oasis), the newly designed garden surrounds the monument, offering a wild palette of pollinator-friendly plants. Being in contrast with its direct surroundings, the various elements of the garden ensure the enhancement of biodiversity. The classic historic brick walls are revealed once again and the current lawn is being transformed into ankle-high planting. Privacy and sound protection are ensured by integrating insect walls and an ephemeral water element fed by rain water is a symbolic wink to the past ornamental basins, becoming in the near future a paradise for birds and insects.

By adding vegetation in the building-integrated historical planters, the villa is once again connected to its garden.

PROTECTED HAVEN

The planting and design elements highlight the garden’s unique location, at the crossing of two typical Dutch landscapes: the Gelderse Vallei and De Veluwe. The species for the garden are locally sourced and selected based on the ambassador species. Both flora and targeted fauna are representative flagship species of their respective biomes. 

The lower part of the garden will be filled with plants, attracting a wide range of birds and insects and refer to the two adjacent landscapes. The year round planting offers color, scent and texture with yellow tones inspired by the Gelderse Vallei and purple for De Veluwe. By adding various height differences, the undulating topography creates small niches for various animals. When completed, the garden and the monument will become once again a beacon within the urban fabric of Ede.

The dismounted materials of the existing garden (such as bricks, stones, wooden beams, slate, gravel and organic materials) will be used to feed the separating insect walls. Those walls are meant to provide both potential habitat and shelter to some species as well as privacy and sound protection to the house’s human family.