Nagele Revisited

Nagele [revisited]

Theo Baart

Projects | Books

Nagele [revisited]

A modernist village in the polder

2006 | The village of Nagele in the Noordoostpolder is a striking example of post-war planning in the Netherlands: a new village on new land. The village was intended for agricultural workers and was designed in a single grand gesture by architects such as Aldo van Eyck, Gerrit Rietveld and Mien Ruys.

But no matter how modern the concept of the village was, it has not been able to evade rural developments that the designers could not have foreseen: the intensification of mobility, the increase of scale and mechanization in agriculture sector, and the arrival of immigrants. Nevertheles, the original concept, which is no less rigid than that of the Bijlmermeer, seems to have remained intact. [see Territorium]

Cary Markerink and Theo Bart have been following the changes in Nagele since 1984. They use photographs from family albums of the poineer period and above all their own photographs from the period 1986-2006 to show how an inward-looking agricultural village turned into a commuter community.

Sociologist and journalist Warna Oosterbaan spoke with local councillors, residents and entrepreneurs in Nagele. He discovered that the pioneering spirit is still alive in Nagele, but also that the residents have time and again changed course at the right moment.

Go to Nagele [NOP] here