Spuisluis

Recent years there has been a discussion about nature in the Netherlands. By a sectoral and technocratic approach and the inaccessibility of the nature areas, the bond between man and nature is weakened and public support for nature has decreased. Flux seeks to strengthen this bond by looking for a new interaction between man and nature: Human Nature.

Scattered along the shore of the Westerschelde sluices characterize the dynamic conditions of the Westerschelde. The sluices collect water at high tide and the water is flushed through harbours outside the dike, to prevent them from filling with sand and to get rid of the water. Villages on the dike of the Westerschelde are often beautifully attached with the sluices.

Coast improvement, needed because of climate change and rising sea levels, creates a situation in which most villages along the Westerschelde are suddenly placed behind large amounts of sand. In addition, the natural system will loose it's dynamics. The existing typology of sluices can be re used to keep the villages connected with the water and bringing back dynamics into the natural system. The new sluices are a contemporary interpretation of the original sluices and provide opportunities for recreation, aquaculture and new residential environments.

Atelier de Groene Golflengte Radio Kootwijk, invited by Atelier Rijksbouwmeester (Yttje Feddes) and Planbureau voor de Leefomgeving, landscape architecture, nature development, dike reinforcement, coastal reinforcement, water storage, ecology, nature included design, design research, Flux landscape architecture, Utrecht, 2011