Wieger Postma

Archipel Marken

Archipelago Marken
 

The Nature and Urban Symbiotic  

We Dutch are praised for our water management knowledge and beautiful water cities, as well as the building of cities as hydraulic constructions, the polders, and our Deltaplan. For centuries, we faced the consequences of cultivating below sea level - consequences that we were able to manage.     

Today, we face new issues: housing shortage in an area threatened by ongoing sea level rise and nature threatened by heavy urbanisation and civilisation. What’s our next step, and what do we need to counter the quest?   

My thesis offers a new way of thinking about building a new landscape with the organic feature of water to serve both nature and urban needs. A new Dutch water city isn’t just a steady construction but an organically growing landscape where the symbiosis of nature and urban typologies leads to new design principles and spatial qualities. As technology shortens distances, we can sway with the pace of water.    

Archipelago Marken is our next step. Our need for big interventions, digging fertile soil to serve growth. Our need to rethink the organisation of property and ownership. Not steady, but fluent. Our need for water as it’s our source.    

Growing up in the Frisian lake disctrict, I know what qualities water has to offer. In the end, water is our friend - so let’s cooperate!  

Graduation date: 17 November 2022 
Graduation committee: Eric Frijters (mentor), Fransje Hooimeijer, Huub Juurlink
Additional members for the exam: Hans van der Made, Martin Probst