The story behind the oriental carpet

Landscape architect Rixt Hofman and project manager  Rob Stapersma were both involved in the execution of this unusual assignment from start to finish. It was the beginning of a major plan aimed at transforming the meubelboulevard (line of shops selling furniture).  ‘The Parallelweg Regional Vision Mix & Match was created to help revitalise the area’s "meubelboulevard",’ explains Rob. ‘By restoring the outdoor space, we have given the whole area a shot in the arm. The Kop van de Haven, as we call this area, needed to be somewhere people wanted to be instead of the mass of parking spaces that it once was. The area has a nice location next to the water, and good accessibility from the centre of Beverwijk. It has the potential to be a  hotspot .’

According to Rixt, the design process was a bit different. ‘I started by searching the internet for pictures of oriental carpets. Once I had found one that I liked, I edited it on the computer to bring the colours forward and make them stand out more. I then placed a grid over it to represent the clay pavers and coloured it in, bit by bit, by hand. A nice job, but the design did pose a few challenges. I based my design on pavers of kei size, but ultimately we opted for the dik size. When we transferred my pattern in the technical drawing to dik size, the carpet looked as if it was one third shorter. And that wasn’t a good look. The contractor had to do some thinking to try to fit everything together, but he did manage to work it out, which is quite something! I used four colours for the pattern: yellow, brown, red, and purple. I’d set that as a condition, as if you go for more colours the paving won’t really work. The purple pavers now mark out the edges of the pattern.’ The result has been excellent, and it’s not only Rixt and Rob who think so. Shopkeepers and visitors have also been pleasantly surprised by the unusual square. 

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As project manager, Rob was responsible for ensuring that the project passed off smoothly. Given the nature of the design, that was no easy task. He looks back on the process and the contractor’s efforts with satisfaction. ‘The contractors did a fantastically skilled job, but there were a lot of headaches. As clay pavers are a natural product, there might always be a few size differences in a batch. When you’re paving this pattern over this width, you might find areas of the pattern jumping out if you view it from above. And that’s no good. So the contractors stretched lines out to correspond to the specific patterns of the carpet. They then laid the paving between the lines. They then cut the red pavers, the largest area, to size.   This way, the areas aligned nicely with one another. It was a lot of work, so they did it in threes. One person read the drawing, the second pointed out the right colour, and the third laid the paver.’ 

‘The whole area has been completely transformed,’ explains Rob. ‘The marina also draws more tourists in now as well. The eye-catching look of the carpet, the view over the water, and the greenery all combine to create a fantastic public space. We can see how businesses here now see the potential the square has to offer. It offers lots of opportunity for activities and events. The terraces are also a real asset. For visitors to the meubelboulevard, the carpet has become a resting spot where you can come and recover from all the shopping.’ 

• Client: Municipality of Beverwijk 
• Design: Municipality of Beverwijk, Rixt Hofman 
• Contractor: Germieco 
• Colours: Marrone, Robina, Dordogne, Fiore 
• Size: dik