Maastricht was a bustling mining city, home to several quarries. Today, the Uitzichtpunt quarry retained the marlstone features, while the Curfsgroeve Meerssen was completely reclaimed as natural reserves. Meertengroeve was a forest before man intervened through mining and now it is in the process of naturalisation. Is returning back to nature the best way forward? Unlike the other quarries, Meertengroeve is accessible to the public. The current entrance seems like an accident. The quarry experience should be maximised by emphasizing on the drastic height difference through an immediate descend approach. This means changing the entrance. There are 3 different views offered at different heights. Top: bird eye’s over-arching view, seeing the elliptical patterns. Middle: layered view of the stacked landscape with depth. Base: panoramic. This influence the height positioning of the building. Haptic study of journey from the top to quarry bottom show how the experience can be curated with different levels of enclosure, materials and sensation.
With that, to build a quarry network in Maastricht, Meertengroeve quarry aims to increase awareness of its’ process. To understand the quarry as a man-made intervention, the design concept is to strengthen the man-made quality through an emphasis on geometric pattern- linear strokes along the cliff and organic curves at the base. This influence the positioning of the architecture, planting and movement of visitor. The cliff face accommodates the architectural interventions. The buildings are small instances, narrow and long to react to the steepness. The angles of the roof line respond to the cliff linear strokes. The foresters house is placed to be near to visitor centre for maintenance and hosting guests and to keep watch of the hidden North-East quarry corner.
Planting: Understanding the haptic experience relation between ease of walking and appreciation of surrounding, the steel grating cliff walk combined with choice of 2m hawthorn hedge direct view and touch to the cliff wall. On large scale: Use of plants that prefers wet condition highlight contrasting wet and dry quarry characteristics Open view of the quarry base is maintained by minimal tree planting. Signature cluster draws attention and focus. Small scale: Tall shrubs work together with meandering pathway to curate public-private boundary. In the linear garden, staggered lines of shrubs of different height hides movement to house, making a short journey longer. Mixture of shrubs species have complementing texture, evoking rocky conditions. Low foliage and high hedge form narrow window strip view of quarry. Height and canopy sizes of tree relate to tall narrow huts. At the tiered garden, ornamental colour trees chosen as solidity trees which guides the view and the weaving movement.
House on stilts to emphasize the verticality of the quarry walls. Continuous timber material of the hall promotes circulation through house. Double volume space serves as transition of enclosed space hierarchy. Level1: Private activity. Level 2: Private activity. 2 huts are angled differently to offer different views.
With time, individual small trees grow and work together to form a line; growing at different rates, trees form a forested cluster with layering. Mowing involves the citizenship participation and the pattern changes with time, reflecting the “active” characteristic of a mining site. With an increase awareness of the quarries in Maastricht, hopefully the other quarries (such as the unknown Wolf Three Quarry for bats) would be activated to bring new experiences and highlight a different processes and characteristics of the unique site.
Visitor journey: Use of boulevard of shorter multi-stemmed Acer Platanoides to provide a contrast from the forest and as an entrance strategy. V-shape eases lighting transition. First view of quarry, seems organic and natural. Next, visitor centre informs that quarry is not natural, featuring the marlstone surface of quarry. Grating walkway is a harsh intervention. Perceive quarry differently with this knowledge. Embark on a journey of how quarry is slowly being returned to nature. Exits visitor centre, hidden path to forester’s house. Stairs aligned to lead view from the visitor centre to and from the quarry base. At the base, organic quality is manifested in 3D meandering journey guided by shrubs, ditches, mounds and mowing pattern. Balance between intervention and working with nature. Story of naturalising, transits to dark forested boulevard which also frames view of forester ensemble. Exits with a different angle of the brightly lit quarry, showcasing the quarry today from a different view point.
Child journey: Exaggerated experience of hedges as tall walls, big mounds, recessed ditch valleys. Child friendly colourful shrubs of different texture chosen for quarry base.
