Within the city of Middelburg, in the south of the Netherland, a piece of land of 4 hectares is currently used as pasture. The residents and the municipality have indicated that they want to realize a park here. As the financial resources are limited OTO has been looking for a way to combine different uses within the park.
Together with a biological farmer, who supplies a range of local products and crops to people and quality restaurants, OTO has planned to integrate an agricultural function with a recreational park. For the farmer, it will be an opportunity to enhance it’s exposure in the middle of the city.
The design of OTO consists of a system of agricultural fields edged by wide low hedges. The inverse of these fields contains the park program. In some strategic places collective spaces are created with different park program such as playgrounds, fields and picknick spots.
The park is framed by groups of trees that belong to the original wet landscape. In the park itself there are different types of fruit trees clustered in such a way that the shadows in the fields is minimal . Because the park will be developed gradually, OTO has chosen to reinforce the character of the park from the start with white wooden furniture such as the entrance gates, fences and tree poles. A curving path leads visitors through the fields and along the collective places in the park and connects the park with the adjacent neighborhood. The path has prints that refer to the grown vegetables and fruit in the park. The Sprenckpark is the outcome of a search for a park where a classic park atmosphere meets the activities of agriculture in the city.