Zwanenwoud

Zwanenwoud forms part of the urban design for ‘Buiten­ plaatsen Skoatterwâld’, east of Heerenveen. The initial phase of this KuiperCompagnons design has been divided into four elongated strips of woodland. A total of some 2,500 homes will be built among these parallel, north-south strips.

Skoatterwâld’s design will comply with a report drawn up in 2005 by the Netherlands Institute for Spatial Research (Ruimte­ lijk Planbureau, or RPb) called ‘Landstad. Rural Living in the Network City’. This report concludes that there is considerable demand for so-called ‘rurban’ residential environments, providing the peace and quiet, green spaces and sense of community offered by a village, along with the cultural and leisure facilities of the city. In his design for Zwanenwoud architect Sjoerd Soeters has interpreted this ‘rurban’ living as a new kind of country estate or country house…