The new factory of CONO Cheese Factory is located in the meadows of West Beemster. The building seamlessly integrates with the landscape. What does that look like?
Objective
UNESCO World Heritage site De Beemster demonstrates that innovation is possible, provided the landscape is treated with care. CONO Cheese Makers has renewed and expanded its cheese dairy on the adjacent plot, with respect for the World Heritage site. Under the direction of architect Bastiaan Jongerius, a master plan was developed in collaboration with DS and ABT engineers. The plan has been approved by the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands (RCE). DS further developed the site design into the Preliminary Design.
Design
The factory complex, including buildings, tanks, and more, has been designed in harmony with the landscape; architecture and landscape form a unified whole. The design for the new cheese dairy is anchored in the parcel pattern of the Beemster: one parcel for the factory and another for utilities. The factory is slightly elevated on its parcel with wide grassy verges. The utility parcel, hosting various facilities, is embedded within a field of “useful” crops, which enhance biodiversity. The ditches have been restored to their original layout with generous profiles.
The factory is located on the edge of the perfectly parceled center of De Beemster. As a result, the old factory site has been transformed back into meadowland. The original alignment of the parcels is (once again) visible, a unique characteristic of De Beemster. The factory stands freely in the central area, seamlessly integrated into the landscape. The new building, with its 230-meter length, flatness, colonnade, and surrounding ditches, creates a sense of depth and dissolves into the polder. This elongated structure blends into the openness of the landscape, complementing natural elements such as the hedges around the orchards and vineyards in the area.
Detail
The old factory will only be demolished once the cheese produced in the new factory tastes the same, a process that will take several years. As a result, the envisioned landscape will only become fully visible after some time.
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