The New Hondsbossche Dunes in Petten Winner of 8th Arie Keppler Award
2016 marks the 8th edition of the Arie Keppler Award, a biannual award organised by MOOI Noord-Holland (literally Beautiful North Holland). This year, there were 89 submissions under 4 categories: Housing, Public Architecture, Planning and Cultural Heritage. Out of these 89 submissions, 12 projects were selected by the jury as nominees. On the 23rd of September, the winner of each category was announced at the awards ceremony in the Velsen town hall in Noord Holland, as part of the festive closing of the jubilee event OVERMOOI.
The Arie Keppler Award highlights the initiatives of inspiring, innovative and groundbreaking projects that transcend the everyday practice of planning development.
West 8’s design of The New Hondsbossche Dunes in Petten, commissioned by JV of Van Oord Dredging and Marine Contractors bv and Boskalis for Holland’s North District Water Authority, was announced as the winner in the Planning category.
Together with Witteveen+ Bos, West 8 has connected the dunes of Schoorl and Pettemer, to create one of the longest uninterrupted dunescapes in the Netherlands, and thus beginning a new chapter in the narrative of the Dutch landscape and the art of land making.
The jury praised the quality of the project “the view-lines, the preserved historical references and the new furnishing elements are all implemented modestly and carefully.” In the jury’s opinion “the construction of these brand new dunes will keep people’s feet in North Holland dry for years to come. This is what we do the best in this country. Here is a virtue of necessity created according to the law of nature, through the medium of an impressive piece of art in engineering.”
Other nominees in the Public Building category, namely the Schouwburg De Kampanje (winner) and SCHOOL 7 in Den Helder city, are both projects in which West 8’s supervisory role as urban designer has had a considerable influence on the successful outcome of the respective developments.
About Arie Keppler Award – MOOI Noord Holland
The Arie Keppler Award – MOOI Noord Holland, is named after engineer Arie Keppler, former director of the Amsterdam Housing Department, advocate for quality architecture and urban planning, and co-founder of MOOI Noord-Holland(literally beautiful North Holland).
Established in 1916 MOOI Noord Holland aims to stimulate the interest of politicians, administrators, clients and the general public in architectural, cultural heritage, urban design and landscape projects within the region.
