WADWERKEN

WADWERKEN explores the relationship between ecology and architecture. Laurien Zwaans places biobased blocks made of shell concrete in the Wadden Sea to investigate how currents, tides, and ecology shape the material. The landscape becomes a co-designer: a living test environment for construction systems that move with the dynamic Wadden Sea, stimulating biodiversity and landscape development.

The biobased shell-concrete blocks in this experiment are inspired by natural “bio-builders” such as mussel beds and salt marshes. On the Wadden Sea, under the influence of currents, wind, and the ebb and flow of the tide, the blocks undergo visible changes: they erode, become overgrown with grasses and mussels, and slowly become part of the landscape and the ecosystem. In this way, the Wadden Sea helps determine the final appearance of the structure.

With the project WADWERKEN, Laurien Zwaans investigates how construction systems can be shaped by ecological processes, resulting in new designs that stimulate biodiversity and landscape development. At the same time, it demonstrates how architecture can strengthen ecology—and how ecology, in turn, can help shape the architecture of the future. Zwaans’ research is based on the study by Prof. Dr. Ir. Tjisse van der Heide, titled Engineering emergent trait-based mimics to restore coastal ecosystems shaped by habitat-forming species.

WADWERKEN is part of Werkplaats Oerol, a laboratory where both emerging and established makers are given the space—often in collaboration with partners—to develop location-inspired work. During the festival, several of these makers explicitly invite the audience to become part of their work-in-progress.