The 'drinking-water machine' designed for Alblasserwaard and Vijfheerenlanden offers an ecological alternative to the current water extraction in the dunes around The Hague. The water surplus in these polders to the east of Rotterdam is impounded and purified to supply The Hague and far and wide with drinking water.

Each of the components of the drinking-water machine has a particular function. A reservoir, a process basin for natural purification, a distributing canal with a purification plant at each end and fields for open infiltration and biological purification are designed as clearly distinct components. To strengthen the bond between them the transitions between components are picked out architecturally, just as church towers mark the reclamation axes and windmills the drainage pools.

This functional angle fits in perfectly with the Fine Dutch Tradition colouring the Dutch polder landscape with its unrivalled beauty of restraint, simplicity and down-to-earthness. Think of the 'engineer's art' of windmills and water courses of Kinderdijk in the west of Alblasserwaard, a landscape famous the world over. And from it comes the inspiration for the design: the panoramic view, the horizontals across the smooth expanse of green, the vertical accents that bring out the space, the fringes of reeds in a corset of quays…

In thirty years time Japanese tourists will be going through untold rolls of film at Meerkerk!

Place of education: Amsterdam
Tutors: Alle Hosper, Ank Bleeker, Jeroen Bosch, Gerrit Smienk & Harm Veenenbos
Specialization: urban design; landscape architecture