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(Archive) Embassy of Water

This project was part of DDW 2023
Anouk van der Poll

The Embassy of Water gathers the water design of the past five years and brings it together in a pavilion at Stadhuisplein during Dutch Design Week 2023 (DDW23). Expect a grand plan for water restoration for homes, a new way of thinking about water, and more.

Imagine the following:

Buildings act as a collective, natural purification system, where we borrow water from the water cycle and return it cleaner and healthier to nature. Water is interwoven into the architecture. We clearly see the power of nature, and we all understand how essential it is to take care of water. That’s why residents and their homes work together to restore the water cycle and water quality.

A dream? A utopia? Not for the Embassy of Water

During DDW23, we present an ambitious comprehensive plan that brings together the water design of the past five years by the Embassy of Water, in a water pavilion at Stadhuisplein. There, we demonstrate how regenerative water design in housing can look in practice. Our dream is very realistic. We can locally reuse, purify, revitalise, give space to, and appreciate water in and around our homes. The technology is available, as is the mindset. Listening to water forms the foundation.

Stadhuisplein as the centre of water

We project our vision onto the planned new buildings around Stadhuisplein. Over the next few years, more than 1200 homes will rise in impressive high-rises in the centre of Eindhoven. In our plan, this location is transformed into the city’s water centre: the Water House.

Here, the residents’ used water can be purified. We make optimal use of rainwater and no longer extract water from the ground. The water is reused, so the new homes will no longer be connected to the sewer system.

If we can restore water to its original, vital form, we will get a livable city in return. The Water House becomes the blue heart of that transformation. Together with water, we change our living environment into a thriving one.