The Dyck Field Rhine Westphalia, Germany 2009 RMP Landschaftsarchitekten www.rmp-landschaftsarchitekten.de
The Centre for Garden Art and Landscape Culture is based around the Schloss Dyck in Northern Rhine Westphalia, Germany. The castle, built in the seventeenth century is regarded as one of the most important cultural centres of the lower Rhineland. In the nineteenth century Prince Joseph zu Salm-ReifferscheidtDyck commissioned the Scottish landscape gardener Thomas Blaikie to fashion the land surrounding the castle in the style of the English landscape garden. The moated castle and the parkland is at the heart of an annual programme of public and private cultural and business activity. In the 1990s the Countess Marie Christine Wolff Metternich joined forces with the government of North Rhine-Westphalia to secure the future of the Schloss Dyck estate for the region. The key to this programme was the establishment of a viable, long-term foundation to conserve the Schloss Dyck as an important German historical monument. Since 2002 the funding and sponsorship secured by the foundation has been invested not only in maintaining and restoring the Schloss and the English garden but also in the
development of extensive new gardens as part of the opening of the European Garden Network in 2006. An important part of the programme was the conversion of land previously used for agriculture into a contemporary park. The 25 hectare site is defined by a 200-year old chestnut grove that historically links the Schloss Dyck with the Convent St. Nicolaus (Figs. 2, 4). When Stephan Lenzen Landschaftsarchitekten of Bonn was commissioned to develop this important site he eschewed the temptation to use the traditional park as influence, choosing instead to find inspiration in the Rhinish use of land for agricultural. In doing so the Dyck Field’s designer utilises forward thinking; featuring vast beds of fast growing Miscanthus plant (elephant grass) (Figs. 1, 3) as the key crop surrounding 24 individually designed garden spaces. Lawns and linear paths of anthracite coloured slabs complete the quilt effect (Fig. 2). One of many ecological benefits to be gained from this choice of planting will be the use of the Miscanthus crop as a biomass fuel to fulfil the energy requirements of the Schloss Dyck.
Population | 22,379 Co-ordinates | 51°06’04”N 6°30’06”E Elevation | 82 m (269’) Precipitation | 758 mm (29.84”) Temperature | Average High: 13 C (55 F) Average Low: 4.8 C (40.3 F) Humidity | 60%
188 The Dyck Field | Rhine Westphalia | Germany | Fig. 1 above | Fig. 2 opposite
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