Mattemburgh Estate has a tub plant collection unique to the Netherlands. Some specimens date back to the early days of the estate and are about 175 years old. During the summer season, the tub plants are displayed in the estate’s English and French style gardens. During the winter season, the fragile exotic plants and trees are traditionally stored in the estate’s orangery so they can overwinter there.
Because over time both the size of the tub plant collection as well as the dimensions of some specimens have grown considerably larger, the collection no longer fit in the historic orangery. Therefore, each year the tub plants were transported to a greenhouse outside the estate, a costly operation for the fragile collection.
To be able to keep the collection on the estate year-round again, Brabants Landschap asked KOENVANHEESWIJKarchitecten in collaboration with Joris Hoogstede Architectuur to design a new winter storage facility for the collection on the estate.
The new home for the collection is designed as a modern version of the original orangery. It consists of a central section with two side wings and is equipped with a large glass skylight. In the new winter garden, too, this threefold division can be seen through a receding middle section. The new building is placed parallel to the old orangery so that the sun orientation is the same.
The architecture of the new building builds on the simultaneously completed restaurant wing and garden gate in the walled kitchen garden. To drive the tub plants in and out of the shed, two 5-meter-high pivot doors were made on the east side.
Essential to a well-functioning orangery is the indoor climate. To this end, a program of requirements was developed in close consultation with the manager of the collection and an expert on citrus plants. Humidity, temperature and solar radiation must be controlled as much as possible. To this end, the floor is clinker paving, the stucco inside is resistant to high humidity and special glass is used in the facades and the glass roof. Convectors at the facades create an air flow through the greenhouse.
At the rear of the main building, an addition, clad in Douglas fir timbers has been installed containing a workshop, staff and technology room. The technology room houses a large pellet plant that provides heat to all buildings on the property.
Once the tub plants are brought out again after the ‘ice days’, the building will be available for larger events such as exhibitions and conferences that take place on the estate. In this way, the new orangery will enable the unique collection of tub plants to remain on the estate throughout the year, as well as providing an additional economic support for the operation of the estate during the summer period.
project site
Mattemburgh Estate
Hoogerheide | North Brabant
client
Brabant Landscape
design & realization
2014-2018
project collaboration
KOENVANHEESWIJKarchitects
lighting design
Lichtmeesters
contractor
De Kok Construction Group B.V.
construction advisor
Vervest Structural Design & Advice B.V.
installation technology
Van Dijnsen
