Olympiaplein Sports Park, Amsterdam

Urban and Historical Context Olympiaplein is part of the former Olympic Games complex in Amsterdam, embedded within an urban district designed by Hendrik Petrus Berlage and shaped in the architectural language of the Amsterdam School. 

The sports park is situated between the Apollolaan and the Stadionweg and features two monumental entrance gates on its east and west sides, as well as a main gate on the southern side. 

Fence Design Concept Ruud-Jan Kokke was commissioned to design a continuous fence of approximately one kilometre in length, enclosing the entire sports park. The fence is conceived as a spatial and experiential boundary rather than a purely functional barrier. Its profile is hollow on the inside and convex on the outside. 

This dual form expresses the contrast between the enclosed, inward-looking character of the park and the more closed, protective exterior facing the city. Structurally, the fence has no traditional posts. Instead, it is constructed from square steel profiles that gradually taper from thick to thin, allowing forces to be absorbed efficiently while maintaining a calm, rhythmic appearance. Landscape Integration The visual “posts” of the fence are not steel elements but the existing Italian poplar trees. 

The fence meanders around these trees, integrating them into the design. This movement breaks the long, uninterrupted sides of the enclosure, which extend up to 400 metres, and creates a more pleasant experience for pedestrians walking alongside the park. The landscape design of the park and its surroundings was developed in close collaboration with VHP Landscape Architects, ensuring coherence between built form, vegetation and public space. 

Memorial Design At the southern entrance of the park, Ruud-Jan Kokke also designed the Amsterdam memorial for Fanny Blankers-Koen. Rather than a sculptural object, the memorial takes the form of a carefully designed text and custom typography, embedding remembrance directly into the spatial and architectural fabric of the site. 

Result The Olympiaplein fence is both infrastructure and architecture. It defines the boundary of the sports park while enhancing the experience of movement, landscape and history. The design respects the Olympic legacy of the site and the architectural language of its surroundings, while introducing a contemporary, restrained intervention.