Current status: The project is now under development with Dura Vermeer, The Rotterdam Authorities and UNESCO Flood Resilience Program.
THE CHALLENGE The Netherlands, and by extension Rotterdam, is in danger of beingcovered by water due to multiplecauses, mainly sea level rise, riverdischarge, rainfall and ground waterlevels.
If this is to be a serious undertaking, one must plan for worst casescenarios; that is, major sea coveragecan be a reality in the distantfuture.
The heightening of dikes or the raising of land with sea sand is inflexible, and per definition, boundto be covered at some time.We propose planning for the worstcase scenarios, while offeringsolutions for the short and mediumterm. These solutions are aimed atthe new residents of the harbor area as well as the community ofRotterdam and beyond.
THE LANDSCAPE The industrial harbour area is topologically transformed to engage with the water environment. Instead of negating it’s surroundings,it embraces it by allowing waterponds to show the current waterlevel, and take extra water in during serious flooding. This works as a dynamic landscape and as a visual flood alarm.
THE CORE Taking advantage of the shipping culture in the harbour and theinnovation and design centres onsite, the technology and knowhowis invested in the constructionof elevated housing andworking units, whereby thesestructures are raised to be ableto cope with up to 8 meters of flooding. Crowned by cranes, theyare able to gather emergencyliving units in case of extremescenarios.
THE FLOATING PLUGIN SERVICES By using traditional barges or FLEX FLOAT systems, floatingservices surround the shore,offering parks, recreation, sportactivities, energy systems or evenagricultural/greenhouse vegetableproduction. Due to their mobility,they can be exported, rented orsold to other harbours, but moreimportantly, they can be reshuffled locally to cater for specialevents, as Olympics or mergencescenarios.
As a collective, they allow for new urban cores to grow in the harbor with a close understandingof the dynamics of the river bed,while offering the know-how tothe local community and abroad.
