Samenvatting

Already for many centuries the only hill castle of the Netherlands is kept in the present picturesque, yet ruined state. Its fate was sealed by historic twists, which brought the willful loss of its strategic status. Today the site is protected by the monumental ruins and is conserved as part of the touristic tour around the city of Valkenburg. To oppose the standstill and critically reappraise the situation, this architectural project aims to create adaptive and reversible propositions that respect the site’s significance while allowing functional renewal. Research into the protocols concerning the heritage and transformation process underpins the design path directed towards retracing, framing and provoking the conditions of the assignment. The castle ruin as a keep and watchtower was part of a regional and European network of thorough ways and pilgrimage routes. The last have become popular again as walking routes and inform a new program for the castle ruin. Another key is a local stone, delved into the network of caves underneath the castle ruin. The brief brings these elements together in the design for a pilgrimage hostel in the caves, a subterranean shaft with further hotel accommodation leading up to the castle grounds, and the reinstalment of the medieval keep alongside the present ruin. The internal space of the tower looks down upon the visible remnants of other historic constructions, while a route within the double walls leads up to a restaurant floor and a roof terrace. The openings and windows in the tower are directed towards historic destinations far and near: Santiago, Cologne, Valkenburg. The cubic volume of the tower, made in Kunraeder stone, reinstates the castle ruin as part of the fabric and historic defense ring of Valkenburg. This happens in a distinct, yet subtle way, while the other interventions remain unseen. Together the ruin castle, the idiom of the architectural interventions and the functional program invoke the past as well as the present, surpassing the limits this intense project set out to overcome.