'bunker 599' by atelier de lyon and rietveld landscape
all images courtesy atelier de lyon and  rietveld landscape


'bunker 599' by dutch firms atelier de lyon and rietveld landscape is a project
which lays bare two secrets of the new dutch waterline (NDW), a military line
of defence in use from 1815 until 1940 protecting the cities of muiden, utrecht,
vreeswijk and gorinchem by means of intentional flooding. 

a seemingly indestructible bunker with monumental status is sliced open.
the design thereby opens up the minuscule interior of one of ndw's 700
bunkers, the insides of which are normally cut off from view completely.
in addition, a long wooden boardwalk cuts through the extremely heavy
construction. it leads visitors to a flooded area and to the footpaths of
the adjacent natural reserve. the pier and the piles supporting it remind
them that the water surrounding them is not caused by e.g. the removal
of sand but rather is a shallow water plain characteristic of the inundations
in times of war.

the sliced up bunker forms a publicly accessible attraction for visitors of
the NDW. it is moreover visible from the a2 highway and can thus also be
seen by tens of thousand of passers-by each day. the project is part of
the overall strategy of rietveld landscape / atelier de lyon to make this
unique part of dutch history accessible and tangible for a wide variety of
visitors.















the first cut



the original bunker



the opening ceremony



construction process



cutting section of bunker

project info:
project: bunker 599
client: DLG (the dutch service for land and water management)
designers: rietveld landscape/atelier de lyon
location: diefdijk - highway a2 (amsterdam - den bosch)
status: realization 2010