Treehouse, Football Factory & Playstack

Like a string of beads, three artworks by Floris Schoonderbeek connect the old and new Welgelegen, a neighborhood in Apeldoorn. Schoonderbeek designed these public artworks as one family, each artwork represents an archetype from architecture that is also characteristic of the Welgelegen neighborhood: the house (living), the factory (work) and the hay stack (agricultural). Three works of art combined with play: the Treehouse, the Football Factory and the Playstack.

The Treehouse (2008) is located in a part of the Welgelegen district where everything is new, except for an old oak. At the edge of a playing field the house leans against this old oak. Together they reflect an image of desire, of freedom, of being able to dream away. Schoonderbeek made a house like a child’s drawing: a square with a triangle on top. Molded from plastic, a transparent, but hermetically sealed treehouse is created. You cannot enter it. For Schoonderbeek the Treehouse is a symbol of a dream house. At the top of a long ladder, it towers above the monumental tree. At night as a lonely light among the foliage, as if someone lives there. But the ladder is not a real staircase and the house is closed. You can look up the ladder, your eyes clamber past the hut, up in the branches and you can almost touch the clouds.

On a somewhat neglected playing field between houses and small-scale businesses the second part of the string of beads was created by Schoonderbeek. The Football Factory (2008), of course with a large chimney, was inspired by former factories with shed roofs. The functional artwork was immediately put into use by the local football players and has proven itself in that sense. But also spatially and visually, the factory is an asset to the place that has been given its own identity. It is a down-to-earth sculpture made of large, round tubes, to which a sturdy mesh is attached. It stands robustly on the field, like a tough but also touching icon that keeps the memory of the old, slowly disappearing factories alive.

The Playstack (2010) forms the last part of the imaginary string of beads through the neighborhood. The Playstack is a climbing and play frame with the silhouette of a haystack.

Partners:
Municipality of Apeldoorn