We were contacted yesterday by somebody who is trying to find out about some of the architecture in Efteling. We did some rummaging around and found a few things, but of course a lot are in Dutch! We would love to hear from you if you have any information about this, or could spare 5 minutes to have a look. Here’s the original message:
Hello all at Efteling UK
I am currently undertaking a dissertation project which is, in part, looking at Architecture in Efteling. I was wondering if anyone knows where one might find more information on:
-The design of Villa Volta, its architectural style and sources on the legend behind it
-The design of the House of the 5 Senses
-The design of De Vliegende Hollander.
Cited sources/academic sources naturally favoured over non-academic ones, but any information is good really!
Thanks.
If anyone could be of any help with this, it will be appreciated!
eftelinguk.com 
Hello Bernice! Who is looking for this, and why. gr, pascal.
Hi ya. My name’s Alex and I’m a Masters student at the Manchester School of Architecture. I’m currently doing my dissertation on the subject of architecture & theming of theme parks, particularly looking at cultural identity. One of my case studies is Efteling, and so I am currently trying to gather resources on a select few attractions which are particularly architecturally or culturally interesting.
He just commented on this also x
This link might help you on Vila Volta, it describes the story and the building itself.
http://mad-house.wikia.com/wiki/Villa_Volta
The house of five senses, do you mean the building with the club on the wall?
Thanks Megan.
No its the main entrance building.
The Villa Volta story is fiction, but the Bokkenrijder did really exist! Here the English Wikipedia-site, if you don’t know it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckriders
This is of course no academic source and you can’t use this as a source in your dissertation, but for an overview it’s good.
They are cold buckriders because bucks are a symbol for the devil.
I don’t know if there are further information on the Bokkenrijder in English, i don’T really think so. At the end of the German Wikipedia article are some non-fiction sources (“Sachbücher”) on German and Dutch maybe there is something for you.
The architecture style of the Villa Volta and the House of the five senses is not evaluated in an academic way, i think. I can only say, that the entrance building is something i wouldn’t link to an certain style, which is known. It’s more like an imaginative creation of Ton van de Ven. The villa Volta is designed after an specific style of architecture, popular in the 18th century (where the story takes place)… But this is obvious. If you want to read something about the thoughts of him I would recommend this interview with Ton Van de Ven (-> http://www.eftelist.nl/mail/7484) in Dutch and an article by him, published in the EAP (->http://www.eap-magazin.de/1-Magazin/33-Archiv/45-Ausgabe-1%7C2011.html), which is álso aviable in English.
Concerning the design of the Vliegende Hollander, which is designed by Karel Willemen, I would recommend the Making-Of, which avaible in the Efteling Web Store and has english subtitles.
It’s not really easy to find information, sorry 😉
That’s a great reply thank you very much! I have pointed him in the way of the making of DVD as well, though it is in Dutch 🙂
With some terrible writing mistakes 😀 😉
I haven’t watched them recently but there might be something on the Efteling videos and DVDs.
Actually the house of the five senses was built in the style of this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumah_Gadang to give it more grandeur. The story of the house tells that it sank through in the ground later, so when it was still standing completely, it must have looked like one of the Rumah Gadang palaces
Ah! That makes sense when you look at that building. Thanks!
Thanks again to everyone who sent information over, it has proved of great assistance in working out my aims. I am due to hand in my proposal for my dissertation tomorrow morning, so wish me luck!
Good luck!