My final-year design is for a health spa and leisure resort in the far north-east of Friesland, along the dyke between the sea (Waddenzee) and the Lauwersmeer lake. The resort complements the baths of the health spa with a pumping station and a fish sluice. A health resort is a compelling example of a recreational activity for city-dwellers that requires a rural location so as to benefit from the qualities of green surroundings. Strange to relate, it is often urban recreational projects that play havoc with these rural qualities. Parachuted like alien pods into the landscape, they come on like bad actors in a magnificent stage set. I wish to propose another way of making this alien aspect more a part of the landscape. Being from the country myself, I would like to use my rural knowledge to unite business with pleasure in old Dutch style by anchoring the thermal baths in the local physical conditions, local culture and local economy. This especially in the knowledge that agriculture will continue to play a key role in managing and developing the landscape.

The architecture of ZENNEZ is like a machine and refers to the sturdy, no-nonsense qualities of 'engineer's architecture'. ZENNEZ is a leisure resort for people, a necessity for us to keep functioning in an ever urbanizing society. The baths nestle securely in the building's cavities where they play a game with the climate and with the water: fresh and marine, ebb and flow. The dynamics of the surrounding landscape resonate in the building as an intense local architecture. ZENNEZ is at the same time a leisure resort for the landscape, as effective water management is a prerequisite for continuing to cultivate that landscape. ZENNEZ seeks to contribute to the development of ecologies by exchanging fresh and marine water and by forging links between recreational and agricultural networks. Farmers keep the landscape looking attractive and produce healthy food and energy for leisure-seekers who relax in that landscape and enjoy its special qualities. ZENNEZ seeks most of all to reinstate the centuries-old chain between farmers and city-dwellers, as these two groups have a lot to learn (and earn!) from each other.

Place of education: AvB Rotterdam
Specialization: architecture
Tutors: Alex van de Beld, Marlies Brinkhuizen, Gerard Kolkman