(Archive) Embassy of Water

Embassy of Water builds the house that restores water

The question that the partners of the Embassy of Water are asking themselves is, therefore: ‘How can we ensure that the million homes that are going to be developed in the Netherlands make a positive contribution to the water system?

If it were up to the Embassy of Water, cities and villages would contribute to the resilience and health of the entire water ecosystem. The city and its inhabitants work together with and for water. Those who use water in a new way, borrow it from the cycle and give it back clean. The result is a water flow as fresh and vital as a sparkling mountain stream. The question that the partners of the Embassy of Water are asking themselves is, therefore: ‘How can we ensure that the million homes that are going to be developed in the Netherlands make a positive contribution to the water system?

Sustainable water techniques already exist

'Just managing water sustainably is no longer enough', says curator Anouk van der Poll. Nowadays, the discussion should focus on how we can ensure that the water system can recover and regenerate itself. If we design homes and neighbourhoods to purify water rather than pollute it, utilise rainwater and reuse water, this will also restore the water in the area. In this way, through our homes, we all become water suppliers instead of water users and we prevent water from becoming a scarce resource. In this way, collectively, we will put water welfare first.

Regenerative thinking: humans as part of nature

De komende jaren maken we van Eindhoven een ‘community of practice’. Dat betekent dat we met elkaar ontdekken hoe we het beste voor water kunnen zorgen en hoe we het beste voor water kunnen ontwerpen. Dat doen we onder andere door de Stem van Water, iemand die opkomt voor de wensen van water, aan tafel te zetten bij gebiedsontwikkeling en bouwtrajecten. Regeneratieve woningbouw gaat namelijk niet alleen om het fysieke eindresultaat, we bouwen ook aan het herstellen van onze connectie met natuur en het besef dat we daar onderdeel van zijn. Zo creëren we woningen die ons weer verbinden met water.