PowerFlood is a power plant that harvests renewable energy from the tidal movement in the Scheldt Estuary. Picking up on the Dutch hydraulic engineering tradition, PowerFlood presents a link to a new future with the principle of controlled flooding. Governed by a tidal regime, it forges a flexible joint in the existing system of rigid barriers, creating a new boundary of gradient surfaces and ephemeral tendencies.

The diversion of water into the channels of the PowerFlood infrastructure triggers both the emergence of a built intervention and the process of power generation. A flow evolves into form, the process into a programme. This symbiosis of programme, matter and form is combined in a new spatial experience charged with recreational potential.

What exactly is PowerFlood? Is it a factory or a hotel, a power plant or maybe a spa? Is it part of the Zeeland recreation network or just a point on the national electricity grid? Materials, programme and of course the water flow into one another, shifting our perception of the complex from that of infrastructure to recreation, from the brashness of a turbine to the elegance of the foyer wrapped around it.

The roaring turbines, the vast basins and the endless electricity grid are not only components in the power production machine but ultimately become players in the creation of a desirable, innovative and ever-changing recreational experience.

Place of education: TU Delft | Specialization: architecture | Tutors: Olaf Gipser, Filip Geerts, Stefano Milani