Building a productive, future proof landscape

Abstract

Drought is a current problem in North-Brabant and might become more severe by climate change. Water board ‘The Dommel’, managing the drainage basin of the Dommel brook, aims for a future proof water system by 2050. At the same time, the urbanization agenda for North-Brabant anticipates a growing need for houses in the near and far future. A switch to local, biobased construction could ecologically justify the current and future housing assignment, and potentially boost the local landscape with a more local oriented architecture as by-catch.
This thesis combines both challenges by answering the question: ‘What spatial framework for the drainage basin of the Dommel supports the move towards a future proof water system that simultaneously provides local, natural construction materials for the future building program?’
Within the graduation lab of Urban Ecology and Ecocities, the landscape is approached as a system of layers that interact. Therefore, a regional framework is made using the water system as base, informed by the ‘layer approach’ and ‘a hydrological approach to landscape planning’. The framework is informed by a landscape biography of historical local building materials. By design-through-scales, the general framework is translated to a local design of a high pressure zone in between Eindhoven and Helmond, and site specific design experiments evaluate the spatial and perceptual value of the framework.
The foundation of the resulting spatial framework is the natural system layer and its preferred hydrological conditions. Strategies to improve the water system are based on retaining water, buffering of water, and delaying drainage. Potential pairing opportunities simultaneously providing local building materials are: a productive tree network that acts as a sponge network by increasing the soil organic matter, surface water basins that provide loam by excavation of land, expanded heathland on the dry surface sand ridges to provide wool of sheep maintaining the heathland and sods for roofing, winter grains that improve the water retaining capacity of soil by increase of the organic matter as well as providing straw, raised forest that buffers water and provides timber, countryside wadi’s that provide reed/willow/cattail fibers, hydrated brook valleys that provide reed for roofing and additional fibers, and use of wastewater for cultivating fibers. These findings show that a combination of both strategies can provide a win-win situation. The design experiments result in a landscape that is diverse, more healthy and is aligned with the regional program. A landscape in which new houses do not invade, but integrate into the landscape and therefore strengthen the local identity of the place.