​​LOCATION
Kristianstad, Sweden

DATE

2015

SIZE
93 ha

TYPE

Invited Competition

 

STATUS

Settled

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CLIENT

Kristianstads Municipality

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PROJECT TEAM

Patrick Verhoeven, Martin Arfalk, Nicholas Bigelow, Andrei Deacu, Danny Bridson, Chuhan Zhang, Sevasti Gektidou

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Härlöv’s Adventure

From landfill to ecological adventure park

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Härlöv’s hills and meadows lies just west of Kristianstads Central train station, surrounded by the Helge River and wetlands. Once the study area of famed Swedish botanist Carl von Linné, the area became neglected and even used as a landfill. With the landfill closed and sealed, the Municipality of Kristianstad commissioned Mandaworks to develop a cohesive landscape strategy to revitalise the forgotten landscape.

 

In 1795, Swedish biologist Carl von Linné studied the landscape as a part of his book, System Naturae. Inspired by von Linné's desire to identify and organise life, Härlövs Adventure is created by two overlapping recreational landscape structures: System Naturae and System Activae.

 

System Naturae organises the site’s topography into a symbiotic ‘wet to dry’ system. The slopes, plateaus, marshes and pastures are refined and combined to create a functioning and thriving biotope. Flat, dry meadows sit at the highest points of the park, providing a rich resource for local insects and birds, while lower, floodable landscape rooms demonstrate the ever changing face of the wetlands and showcase resilient plant life.

 

System Activae introduces the human layer, extending the adjacent urban structure into the site and organising public life via a series of playful elements and activity structures. Large climbing nets, hill side slides and sport bike tracks weave between the park’s natural areas to offer an unforgettable landscape adventure.

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