Domain Hofstade

Throughout the interwar period, hofstade's water-filled sand quarries were the subject of controversy between the city of Mechelen, the national railway company (as the owner at the time), tourist associations and lobbies and even the Royal Commission for Monuments and Sites. Divergent views on their use and, more generally, public welfare, environmental hygiene, leisure, spatial planning, aesthetics, architecture and also landscape architecture, were pitted against each other. The domain for recreation and sports, which saw the light of day on the eve of the Second World War, after a short 'populist' amusement park interlude, was designed by modernist-oriented architects and urban planners, but other stylistic influences are noticeable in the construction and upholstery of the landscape, for example 'Nouveau Jardin pittoresque'.

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