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projekt 1 // project 1
Das Projekt »New Water« in Naaldwijk beinhaltet ein ganzes Wohnviertel
auf dem Wasser. Dieser Entwurf, »Citadel«, ist eines der ersten
schwimmenden Bauwerke hier. Die geschwungenen Formen, aber
auch die vielen Ebenen und Varianten zeigen die vielen Möglichkeiten,
die Bauen auf dem Wasser mit sich bringt.
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The »New Water« project in Naaldwijk is a whole community on the
water. This design, the »Citadel«, is one of the first floating buildings.
Both the flowing shape of the design and its many different levels show
the endless possibilities of building on the water
It is a love–hate relationship: the Dutch and the sea.
Millions would be swallowed by the North Sea were
it not for the many dykes that hold the cruel waters at
bay. After all, it is not only a few South Pacific atolls
that are endangered by rising sea levels: the Netherlands
are also at risk of being submerged, and large
areas of the country actually lie below sea-level. This is a somewhat
disturbing thought that makes some wish for an ark. On
the other hand, the Dutch are a great nation of seafarers and
explorers to this day, and it is perhaps because they have to face
such pressures from nature that they so often come up with
creative and innovative ideas for dealing with the rising sea.
One of these creative thinkers is architect Koen Olthuis.
His company, Waterstudio, specialises in spaces that are next
to, or in many cases on top of, the water – just like our GOOSE
magazine. »The Netherlands is an artificial country,« he says.
»Completely fake! It was made by pumping and drying out
land. We have around 3,500 polders that are only dry because
the pumps are running 24 hours a day, seven days a week. As
soon as we stop pumping, the water levels rise again and the
Fotos: Waterstudios Nl
land submerges.« Clearly, at least for Olthuis, this not a longterm
solution – especially as the true threat of the future not
only comes from the sea, but also in the form of floods caused
by extensive rainfall and overflowing rivers. »We must find
new solutions. On the water. De-polderising Holland, as I call
it!« Extensive areas of the polders are already mainly used for
no other reason than to hold water during floods.
It is on a stretch of water like this, created by flooding a
former polder, that the world’s first floating apartment block
is to be built with a total of 60 flats. This could be the first
step towards realising Olthuis’s vision for cities of the future.
»This is essentially the next level of evolution in town-
planning,« he explained in an interview at the architectural
biennial in Venice. »Our present towns have been there for
several hundred years and are static, but demands and requirements
change, and there are many factors that influence these
developments – cultural, economic and political. We do not
know for sure how a town of the future should be structured.
So it would be quite a big advantage to have floating towns that
can actually be re-arranged and altered. In this way, it would be
possible and much easier to correct mistakes in town-planning.
On the water, everything flows. Here, we have much more
freedom!«
Such floating cities of the future, which Olthuis envisages
not only for the Netherlands but »everywhere where space is
rare«, are made up of various floating elements that Olthuis
calls »city apps«. These modules are used to create dynamic
towns with floating apartment blocks, high-rise buildings,
shopping centres, parks, and anything else that is necessary.
Another example of this concept are the floating islands that
his company is currently developing in the Maldives, which
feature a golf course, hotel and conference centre.
According to Olthuis, the technical means to realise a project
of this kind are already available in the form of technology
used in the offshore industry and in cruise ships. A cruise ship
that carries up to 4,000 passengers is, in itself, already a floating
city, he explains. To build a floating but stationary element
with only 60 flats seems to be simple in comparison.
read more
Foto: Waterstudio Nl
Koen Olthuis, Jahrgang 1971, studierte
Architektur und Industriedesign an der TU
Delft. Er ist der Gründer des Architekturbüros
Waterstudio.nl, das sich auf den Entwurf und die
Realisierung schwimmender Gebäude spezialisiert
hat. Er ist ebenfalls Mitglied der Forschungsgruppe
»Flood Resilience Group« der UNESCO und
der TU Delft, in der tragfähige Konzepte für
ein urbanes Wassermanagement auch nach
Naturkatastrophen und Überschwemmungen
entwickelt werden.
www.waterstudio.nl
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