Canopy Walk Sonian Forest
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2019
Hoeilaart, Sonian Forest, Belgium
Visitor Center + canopy walk
Province of Flanders
 Bollinger + Grohmann ZT GmbH,  KOSSMANN DE JONG, LOLA LAndscape
Marieke Kums, Marlene Scheuringer , Mikel Marin, Gautam Tanwar, Amelie Mantovani, Marina Bruno, Hey-mi Lee
1st prize invited competition Across the world, vulnerable natural areas are under increasing pressure from climate change, pollution, resource depletion and urbanisation. Areas such as the Sonian Forest  require particular attention and policies aimed at safeguarding them for future generations. Any interventions in the area must be prepared with the utmost care and guided by respect for the natural environment. The designation of the Sonian Forest as a UNESCO World Heritage Site underlines both its value and the urgency of its protection.

Groenendaal can be seen as a microcosm of the Sonian Forest, bringing together its various ecotopes and layers of historical development in a condensed form. Strengthening its role as the main visitor gateway to the Sonian Forest will not only make these qualities more attractive and accessible to a wider public, but will also help relieve pressure on the forest’s more vulnerable areas.

Over the centuries, the Groenendaal visitor gateway has undergone a number of transformations: from an entirely natural environment to a centre of spirituality , a place of leisure and recreation for the nobility (4), and a gateway associated with the World Exhibition. In each period, the relationship between people, culture and nature took on a different form. Today, the site is a rich repository of traces left by these successive histories.

The challenge for the Groenendaal visitor gateway is to establish a strong and recognisable identity by activating and revealing the existing places and distinctive qualities of the forest. New physical routes need to be developed and, where necessary, new uses introduced. Visitors also need tools that help them find their way and heighten their sensory awareness. In this way, the invisible can become visible, the imperceptible scent perceptible, the inaudible audible, the intangible tangible, and the incomprehensible understandable.

 Our proposal for the renewal of the Groenendaal visitor gateway places the relationship between people and nature at its heart . In fact, we are nature. Through an extensive scenography, we invite visitors to see nature with new eyes and to experience the wonder and interconnected web of life—not through a didactic or conventional educational approach, but through discovery, wonder and insight.

As human beings, we are inseparably connected to nature. A new, playful elevated walkway will guide visitors through this part of the Sonian Forest, allowing them to smell, feel and touch the natural environment. Visitors will experience moments of tranquillity and contemplation, but also excitement and exhilaration, appealing to their innate biological intuition.

The landscape design explores the boundaries between the site’s existing natural environments and its designed cultural landscape, while introducing new frameworks through which existing places can be experienced and understood.

Over the past few months, our team has greatly enjoyed developing an integrated design in which all the requested components are closely interconnected in terms of content, function and scenography: the new visitor experience centre, the elevated walkway, and the redesign of the priory site.



Painting of the Sonian Forest by L. de Vadder (1605-1655)
The Groenendaal site with the Canopy Walk

Auditorium

Dipping....

Plan

No views....only sound

Midway through the trees

Highest point

Fading into the forest…

The structure consists of slender columns with tension cables
Principle section 
Deformation study


Unfolded section