Protodike | E13 Runner-up
Runner-up of EUROPAN13 - Streefkerk, Netherlands.
Carlos Zarco Sanz, Sara Palomar Perez, Zuhal Kol, Jose Luis Hidalgo.
The proposal focuses on the reciprocal programmatic, economic, ecologic, socio-cultural relationships between land and water by asking ‘how an infrastructure to block, can be developed to connect’, and aims to utilize the resultant conversation central to organizing a prototype-PROTODIKE- infrastructure of an alternate urbanism and land use which can be adapted and implemented in varying locations for dike reinforcements in the Dutch Delta.
In the current era of far-reaching transformation-economic, ecological, political and climatic amongst others, the emphasis on the collective natural environment repositions the role of infrastructure as the foundational spatial format, since it allows for the interconnection between the human and environmental spheres. Also, as one of the few spatial categories, that is funded and utilized by the entire public, infrastructure remains the last vestige of publicness in contemporary territories. Within the Dutch landscape and daily life, Dikes are pivotal infrastructural elements protecting land by blockage; and similar to other infrastructural typologies, dikes as well traditionally operate in the framework of resistance instead of resilience aiming to mitigate and eliminate disturbance. Renovation and reinforcement of many dikes in the Dutch Delta posits an opportunity to re-question the potentials of dikes within a water resilient understanding. Focusing on dikes within the topic of ‘adaptability’, the project reconsiders the role and deployment of dike infrastructure, such that it operates symbiotically between natural and artificial as a contingent system that provides resilience through the continual negotiation of socio-political (both individual and collective) and environmental realms.
Dikes in general draw a coastline as set by the boundary between water and land; on one side of the line drawn, you have water; on the other side, you have land. This at once expresses and reinforces an attitude about the way that humans use and occupy littoral terrain, which privileges certain programs — while excluding the possibility of other programs — such as an economy based on the biological productivity of the fluctuating gradient of water/s or social daily life activities that can occur on/around the water. In Streefkerk as well, the boundary created by the dike is predominant and eliminates potential mutuality. Therefore, the proposal focuses on the reciprocal programmatic, economic, ecologic, socio-cultural relationships between land and water by asking ‘how an infrastructure to block, can be developed to connect’, and aims to utilize the resultant conversation central to organizing a prototype-PROTODIKE- infrastructure of an alternate urbanism and land use which can be adapted and implemented in varying locations for dike reinforcements.
To re-open the possibilities that a more complex understanding of the relationship between land and water would permit, the Protodike is established on two deceptively single moves to have effect on generating new patterns of land use, new economies, new societies and ultimately new urbanization based on a contradictory relationship to connect while blocking:
Groynes:
To challenge the strict separation of land and water in favor of scenarios that can investigate how the connection of both can drive alternative spatial organizations, the project suggests the implementation of groynes to offer land-use on the water. This hydraulic structure, which interrupts water flow and limits the movement of sediment, already exists at many locations on River Lek and carries a great potential to create productive and social landscapes on and around the water. In addition to providing more reinforcement for the dike, groynes trigger an explosion of biodiversity and productivity by generating sedimentation in the inner bend, and also offer more space for water related public activities and water transportation.
Through considering the groyne not only as an infrastructural piece, but also as an architectural element, the project proposes use on the groynes with a multi-leveled, permeable groin structure. While the differing surface levels of the groynes encourage varying uses as the water level changes, the permeable stone structure enables an underwater interior serving as a semi-enclosed pool for aquacultural farming. Moreover, since the groynes increase high velocity areas at the ends, the Protodike groynes offer tidal energy production and reestablish another performative connection to the land.
Strips:
On the other hand, to decrease the ‘boundary’ effect of the dike and encourage programs on/around the water, the Protodike develops a pattern of strips for land-use. Rather than running parallel to the dike, these strips are formed through the dike, creating and triggering plots of encounters between water and land to conceive dynamic coexistence of diverse activities. The programmatic plots on each side of the dike functions through a strategy of binary/reciprocal development -from land to water, water to land- in which a program injection occurs on one side encourages the appearance of a related program on the other side. This flexible envelope suggests a process that promise to adapt to various locations and programmatic areas along the river and to this extend, the dike serves as the infrastructural spine connecting the programs.
Through a series of strategic and tactical interventions, the implementation of the Protodike into various locations with differing features and programs would generate endless possibilities of new ways of living with water. Having one of the currently reinforced dikes and a mixture of programs in its surroundings, the dike in Streefkerk carries a great potential to experiment and force the potentials of the known dike infrastructure as a means of investigating new spatial circumstances for future uses. The site is surrounded by the town, the agricultural landscape and the aquatic landscape of River Lek, and already is based on a land-use that grows perpendicular to the dike, but it is interrupted by the dike. Situated on the frontiers of town and rural area, the land-use can extend from the site to the water through the implementation of Protodike offering a new encounter with water to its inhabitants.
Phasing: Implementation of Protodike in Streefkerk
Phase 1: Reinforcement
Alongside the planes reinforcement of the dike in the site, other basic infrastructural elements of the adaptable Protodike - groynes, roads, paths will be added meanwhile the agricultural activities continue and expand on the land. Since all sidewalks, cycling paths, walking routes that lead and pass by the groynes are introduced at this phase, the Protodike in Streefkerk begins calling out inhabitants on/around the water and initiates this new contradictory relationship of connecting with water while blocking it.
Phase 2: Activation
- Injection of water related programs (water sports, leisure activities, plantation of wetland plants) to encourage the use of the water side triggers other public programs to occur on the way from the land to the water.
- Through the participation and decisions of the inhabitants this first triggering can result in new happenings on/around the site and the water, such as watersports might transpire a playground, or aquaculture might develop agriculture; and with this reciprocity they will start activating both sides.
Phase 3: Connection
Urban – Rural
As the public use of the waterside increases, new socio-cultural and leisure activities coming from the town will begin taking place alongside the agricultural activities of the rural side. While these programs are temporal and can occur on the programmatic surfaces of the strips- such as sports fields, gathering areas or floating platforms, the activities that necessitate semi/closed space-such as market or workshop can happen in temporal greenhouses which also can be used for agriculture.
Energy, Micro-economies
In addition to the programmatic connection to its surroundings, by introducing a renewable tidal energy production system on the groynes, the water side is also linked to the land through providing sustainable energy. Moreover, all these activities and movements of agriculture, aquaculture, sports, leisure will foster and enhance small economies around the site.
Phase 4: Inhabitation
Private-Public Space
Development of housing units occurs on the voids around the public spaces, and the lower parts of the units function as a semi-private buffer zone. In time private/public actors can decide whether to adjoin or separate these ground levels from the common areas, but the in-between areas will remain open for public sharing.
X Using the vernacular style that exists in the surroundings, the housing units can diversify with different arrangements of building elements according to the decision of the owner. While elevated on pillars, the units will be prepared for future soil reinforcement for the dike and meanwhile adapt to a mixture of public and private programs.
Phase 5: Co-existence
Allowing vast space for social and collective forms of encounters among community and visitors, the programmatic plots on water and land are the common courtyards and meeting places of the inhabitants and platforms to access water related activities. While the program surfaces carry temporal actions and are constantly open for change, the floodable sedimentation areas on the water side can also be adjusted according to time and situations; they can turn into water parks in warm summers and offer dry public spaces in winter for a market for instance.
This adaptable and plural organizational framework promotes a pedestrian-based environment that cross-pollinates the public and private hierarchy on the site in a complex manner. By implementing a series of tactical interventions that work holistically as a system to connect, water is positioned as an integral element of urbanism — culturally, programmatically, and performatively — that becomes part of the everyday experience of residents.