Krijn Giezen (1939-2011)

“An unusual walk through the sculpture garden”. From the sculpture Antlers (1928), by John Raedecker, the existing view of the Franse Berg (French Hill) has been complemented and intensified by a straight line of steps that ascend the hill and rise above the treetops, offering a breathtaking panorama of the surrounding landscape.

Mounting the steps, the visitor has a unique physical and sensorial experience of the Franse Berg, the highest point of the Hoge Veluwe.
At its base, the steps have been laid in concrete in a straight line up the dirt hill. They are prolonged by wooden stairs which gradually rise above the crowns of the trees (the climax).

The wooden stairs are made of recycled hardwood (bazralocus) from the Dutch coastal defense.
The walk from the sculpture Antlers to the tree tops is 250 metres long. The stairs themselves measure 80 metres in length and can be extended as the trees grow. Each step is 2.4 metres wide.

The project began in 1986. The work was completed in 2005.
The sculpture garden is situated within a protected ecological zone. The building permit for Kijk Uit was obtained through careful consultation with the many authorities concerned.

Fragments of bunkers which had become dangerous or obstructing were broken and pressed into 4 ton blocks. These blocks have been posed along the coastline to protect the Danish coast from erosion. Military defence becomes protection against the rise of the sea level.

Realised in 1995 during an exhibition for peace commemorations.

The Ateliers of Cergy-Pontoise asked Krijn Giezen to make a project for the extension of the Grand Axe from La Défense to the west. Theme of their international workshop was : “ville et nature” (“city and nature”).

Krijn Giezen proposed to draw a line on the map and extend the axe in an extreme way to the west, crossing the Seine. After 30 years offices are broken down in La Défense and replaced by new buildings, their debris is removed from the site.

The rural area across the river Seine provides building materials such as sand, gravel, cole, clay. By extracting them “wounds” are inflicted upon the landscape, the quarries. It gave him the idea to use the freecoming building materials from La Défense and give them a resting place in one of the abandoned quarries on the line, thus healing the wound. The workshop’s theme “City and Nature” becomes City back to Nature.

With earth and rubble from roads and buildings which had to be demolished for the extension of the container port, right at the site a sound-proof barrier has been formed. It protects the village of Rhoon from the harbour’s traffic noise.

All waste materials were discharged into an iron cage 300 m. long, 6 m. high and 3,50 m. wide. The sinuous form gives stability to the wall (constructional form). A spontaneous vegetation will develop which means that colour and structure of the wall will change with time. In Botanical Studies, students were asked to follow the process.

The entire wall was formed in 1993.Other elements of this work will be developed. The original idea was to place a container-coffee shop on top with stairs leading to it.

In one of the prison courtyards Krijn Giezen has placed a glasshouse, surrounded by concrete walls, with fruit trees and vegetables growing in and next to it. A straight path leads into it. The prison wall which prevents from escaping becomes a shelter which protects the growing vegetation. The fruits and vegetables are consumed by the prisoners or sold outside.

Krijn Giezen prefers the word glasshouse to greenhouse in order to emphasize the transparency of the building in contrast with opaque prison walls. This project was realised in 1990.

Broei (Composting). Living with the cycle of the seasons.

It was Krijn Giezen’s proposal for the competition Temporary Living in Almere in 1986 (second prize).

The work consists of four objects, each with the dimensions 6 x 6 meters and 3 meters high. A space for summer habitation produce vegetation for the compost heap. The hot air caused by fermentation will heat a living space during winter. This mausoleum-like space built from prefabricated chipwood contains a machine which blows in the hot air and blows out the cooled air again. Leaves and chopped branches from a nearby orchard will also be used for the compost heap and keep the work in movement.

This project was realised in 1994.