My project locates a new quarter in the Rhine basin in the centre of Arnhem. The scheme seeks to couple town and river such that both can function at their best. The flow of the river is improved, while the urban areas on either side of the Rhine are stitched together into a single city.

The river zone is widened by demolishing part of the post-war district of Malburgen, which is sorely in need of redevelopment. New high-water areas are constructed from the resulting rubble as elongated islands with gently sloping banks. Differences in water level give rise to different patterns in both city and river. The river flows at optimum width at all times, while urban areas are kept dry for as long as possible. As the water level changes, so does the accessibility of the remaining dry parts of the town. Links are severed only to reappear later, and even new ones come into being. At high water the urban programme-in-retreat floats on the piers in the river. As the water level drops the piers transmute into islands in the intricate current, even the flood plains are left high and dry and the city takes over the entire river zone.
With the river's scope increased and the city capitalizing on the dynamic of the changing water level, the two actors, city and river, play complementary roles in which the river's ebb means the city's flow and vice versa.

Place of education: AvB Rotterdam
Specialization: urban design
Tutors: Ad Habets, Enno Zuidema, Jean Paul Kerstens & John Carp