(Archive) Droogte in de Delta | Drought in the Delta

The dry delta

The Dutch delta is not designed to retain water. Not yet. This requires a change in thinking and acting: from a naturally wet delta that must drain its water as quickly as possible to keep our feet dry, we must move to a delta that can retain fresh water in order to have access to it when we need it. It is a new challenge that the IABR – Atelier Drought in the Delta is portraying through design research.

Journey to the Center of the Earth

The results of this research by design project have been visualized in the form of two cross-sections of the Dutch delta, the delta in 2020 and in 2050. We look towards Germany, France and Belgium, upstream along the Rhine, Maas and Scheldt - in the distance we see the Alps. The first section shows how our delta now functions and which problems have arisen due to climate change. In the second, we see what the potential building blocks for a new, common freshwater strategy yield, in conjunction with other transition tasks, such as energy transition, food production and urbanization.

This work by Studio Marco Vermeulen was commissioned by and on display at the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam 2020.