Hilversum Media Park

The Hilversum Media Park, the heart of Dutch broadcasting, has been a closed enclave for decades. The park traditionally consists of a number of areas, each with a specific spatial and functional structure, but it lacks spatial coherence as a whole. In addition, developments at the Media Park have enhanced security, adding dominate fences and dense foliage to the landscape image. Karres en Brands has created a vision for the area that will gradually transform Media Park into a park with a high landscape quality and public character.

The advent of the Institute for Sound and Vision in 2006 and the desire to give the Media Park a more visible location were the reason for drafting a vision to open up the Media Park and make it more visible. After a lot of walking around on location, selecting special trees and discussing intensively with both park users and the client and municipality, Karres en Brands came up with such a vision. The plan outlines a framework within which statements can be made about the green structure, particularly the ring road, fences, turnstiles and the property border, among others.

Opening up: before and after

The Media Park entrance becomes marked by the Institute for Sound and Vision, a striking building that manifests itself at the main entrance. This visibility is important for all companies that are housed at the Media Park: it is a face to the street. Secondly, fences dominate the image of the Media Park. Therefore, a strategy to remove the fences and organise barriers in a natural way, namely with hedges, is an important part of the master plan. This landscaping fits in well with the surroundings and gives a much friendlier impression.

Finally, the making of space is an important part of the design. The Media Park terrain has a number of large buildings that are hidden behind trees and wide planting areas. Several companies indicated that they consider visibility of great importance. The vision for the edges of the Media Park is dedicated to this; the motto is “making space”. The use of hedges provides a natural boundary and contributes to safety - an important theme at the Media Park. 

Leen Jongewaardweg: before and after