Architecture, urban planning and research in, on and next to water
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Waterstudio published in “Floating Houses- Living over the water”

Floating Houses –  Living over the water

Two projects of Waterstudio are published in the book “Floating Houses –  Living over the water”.

Waterstudio.N L www.waterstudio.n1 Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands Photos © Architect Koen Olthuis – Waterstudio.NL

Villa `Ijburg’ – plot 13

This design was done for an Amsterdam urban expansion site where one specific area was designated to have only floating houses. As with the other dwelling for this same area, limitations in the building outline were strict, forcing the design to be clear and powerful’ within these regulations. Pushing the regulations which only allowed half of the top storey to be used. This design quite literally took the complete rectangular outline of the building envelope as a frame in which transparent facades were placed. Within the frame the several functions were placed, defining where the glass paneling should be transparent or closed. The top storey still only occupies half of the floor surface, but the white frame now encloses the remaining outside terrace, visually completing the basic and almost austere volume. Within the frame, glass panels were used with several slightly different colours, adding some subtlety to the scheme.

The lower floor, which is partly beneath waterlevel. contains the bedroom, a bathroom with sauna, as well  as some storage and a study-rooms. On the ground  floor, where the entrance is situated, two blocks in  the layout create an, entrance hallway, and close off  the stairwell, leaving the rest of the surface almost  completely open. The blocks contain the toilet, storage  space, and kitchen equipment. The whole of the floor  is used as a large living-kitchen. On the upper floor the volume containing the living-room was given a curved outline, which give a little playfulness to the otherwise I is geometric appearance.

Waterstudio.N L www.waterstudio.nl Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands Photos © Architect Koen Olthuis – Waterstudio.NL

Villa jjburg’ – plot 3

This plan was designed for an urban water-development area in Amsterdam. Strict limitations of the building envelope and 2,5 storeys,, while maximizing effective floor space for the principal, forced the designers to, come up with a strong architectural principle that organized the dwelling with only modest means. The location at the end of the pier, where the view should be focused on the water while shielding off the dwelling from adjacent houses, provided the initial starting point. The architectural concept comprises of two basic shapes, filled in with glass panels. The main volume is enveloped by a white stucco slab that runs along the le storey floor, covers the entire back wall and roof, forming a continuous line that frames the living area and the open view. This simple yet elegant shape is complemented by a second shape in wood formed by the terrace floor and curving up to form the banister. Together, these two simple gestures define a distinct, almost iconic appearance.

On the lower floor, which is partly below waterlevel, three bedrooms and the bathroom are situated. The ground floor is largely an open layout where only the toilet and some storage space separate the entrance area from the main space. Two large swinging doors can be used to close off the hallway. A neatly designed cupboard containing television is the only main element in the open space. Behind this, two stairs lead to the lower storey and to the working-area on the top floor. The ceiling of the living room is made in the same wood as the outside shape to really carry through the concept of the two curved shapes making up the dwelling.

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Koen Olthuis bij WNL Op Zondag, 4 februari 2018

WNL
Feb. 4 2018

De zondag begint met Rick Nieman. Met nieuws, vrolijke kwesties en prominente gasten. Partijleider Henk Krol van 50Plus strijdt tegen de aflosboete. Anna Dijkman over de nieuwe serie Stand van Nederland. Jeroen van Koningsbrugge en Dennis van de Ven over politieserie Smeris. Architect Koen Olthuis met een fascinerend verhaal over drijvende steden.

WNL Op Zondag

Drie watervilla’s dobberen op het Wantij

By Ingrid de Groot
AD
March.05.2017

 

Drie van de vijf watervilla’s op Stadswerven liggen op hun kavels langs de oever van het Wantij.

Ze hebben een bijzonder uitzicht op de molen op de Noordendijk, bioscoop Kineopolis en natuurlijk elke dag is er een andere sfeer door de beleving van het water.

In een van de watervilla’s wordt al gewoond. Op de oever wordt ondertussen door aannemers een rij huizen afgebouwd met elk een eigen ontwerp. Een van de nieuwe panden heeft een trapgeveltje, als knipoog naar het verleden. Meerdere panden hebben op hun verdieping een terras met uitzicht op het water.

Verwarming
Paul Rijfkogel wil over twee weken in zijn watervilla gaan wonen. Hij is eigenaar van de middelste en de komende weken worden de laatste dingen afgewerkt. Zo moet de verwarming nog op zijn kavel worden aangesloten en moet er nog een siervloer in. ,,Het is nu een kale cementvloer.’’

De Dordtenaar heeft in zijn watervilla onder andere een slaapkamer, een logeerkamer en een werkkamer. Hij is dolgelukkig met het resultaat. Precies wat hij had gehoopt. ,,Het is super geworden, heel ruim.’’

Liggend op de kavel is nu écht duidelijk hoe de beleving van het Wantij is. Het klotsen van de golven voel je wel, weet hij inmiddels. ,,Je voelt het op als er een binnenvaartschip voorbij vaart op de rivier. Logisch, je woont op het water. Maar we kunnen het hebben, ik heb altijd een zeilboot gehad.’’

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Project Waterrocks Zeewolde (fase 1)



Seminar: The Floating Future: Life at Sea

Life@sea

With an increasing population and a rising sea level there is a growing need for energy production, food production, floating ports and living space at sea.  “The Floating Future” is a seminar about the development of large floating islands to support these activities.

We would like to invite you and/or your colleagues to join us in discussions about the floating future. Ongoing work and new project initiatives for open innovations at sea will be presented. For this seminar we have invited a wide group of companies, research institutes and authorities from various disciplines. Waterstudio will be one of the participating companies. The objective is to build new connections and to spark the beginning of the floating future.

Koen Olthuis will present his presentation “Rise of the Blue City” from 11:30 till 12:00.

 

The seminar is free of charge, please register before March 1st, 2018:

Please click here to register

 

Location:

Fletcher Hotel-Restaurant De Wageningsche Berg
Generaal Foulkesweg 96
6703 DS Wageningen
Click here for the website of the location

 

More information and updates of the programme, click here

 

Holding back the floods

By Scholastic
Science World

 

After one of the worst hurricane seasons on record, what can the U.S. learn from countries With centuries of experience managing floods?

ESSENTIAL QUESTION: Why might collaboration be important when it comes to solving large engineering problems?

Last August, Hurricane Harvey barreled into the Texas coast. In just a few days, the storm dumped more than 1.2 meters (4 feet) of rain On Houston, America’s fourth inost-populous city, and surrounding areas. It set a new record for rainfall from a single storm and led to widespread flooding. Dozens of people died. Tens of thousands had to evacuate, with many still unable to return to their flood-damaged homes. Like Hurricane Sandy, which hit the Northeast five years earlier, and Hurricane Katrina, which devastated the Gulf Coast in 2005, Harvey demonstrated how vulnerabble U.S. coastal communities are to flooding. More than  120 million Americans—nearly 40 percent – live in a coastal county. And that, population is growing rapidly.

Scientists believe climate change could bring even more intense flooding to the U.S. Warming temperatures and shifting global climate patterns are not only raising sea levels but could also potentially cause more extreme storms. As a result., U.S. coastal communities are looking for ways to prepare for the future (see Fighting Poods Worldwide, p. 17) They’re gathering data locally and collaborating with experts around the world to identify the best strategies to keep people and essential facilities above water.

KEEPING A COUNTRY DRY
Perhaps no country on Earth has as much experience protecting against floods as the Netherlands. About a third of the small European nation’s land is below sea level—and much of that area would be underwater if not for centuries of expert engineering. “Flood protection is a huge part of our history and culture,” says Harold van Waveren, a senior adviser for the Dutch government’s flood-prevention agency. “Without it, our country wouldn’t exist.” Van Waveren lives near Amsterdam at a depth of 5 m (16 ft) below sea level in a polder—an area surrounded by walls, called dikes, that keep water out. The country has nearly 3,500 polders, protected by 40,000 kilometers (25,000 miles) of dikes and dams. Flood protections have continued to evolve since Dutch farmers built the first dikes a thousand years ago. A major storm in 1953 that flooded the southwest Netherlands and killed 1,800 people motivated the country to build the massive Delta Works. This project constructed new barriers and dams to protect against storm surges—increases in sea level due to wind and air pressure changes during storms. The project also included channels called sluices, which drain excess water during floods. The crown jewel of the Delta Works is the Maeslantkering (MANS-lau_mt-keh-ring), a giant barrier completed in 1997 that protects Rotterdam, one of the world’s busiest ports, from the sea. Ships must enter and exit the port, so building a permanent barrier that blocked the sea wouldn’t work. Instead, the government decided on a huge gate that remains open most of the time and swings shut during storms (see The Netherlands’ Giant Sea Gates, p. 15).

ROOM FOR THE RIVER
The Maeslantkering successfully held back the sea during a 2007 storm. But storm surges aren’t the Netherlands’ only flood threats: In 1995, dikes surrounding the narrow Waal River nearly failed during heavy rains, threatening the city of Nijmegen (NYE-may-ken). Some 200,000 people evacuated. “That led to a big change in our strategy,” says van Waveren. “Until then, we thought we could manage nature and have it do as we wanted. But we realized nature is sometimes stronger than we are. We had to stop fighting it and find ways to work with it.” Current flood protection strategies in the Netherlands focus on allowing nature to safely take its course during floods. Workers are restoring and protecting coastal lands like beaches, marshes, and dunes, which provide natural buffers against storms. At more than 30 sites around the country, engineers are also creating additional places where water can go. The city of Nijmegen is part of this program, which is called Room for the River. There, workers recently built an extra channel so river water can flow around the city when the level rises. Low-lying areas are being turned into parks, gardens, sports fields, and other amenities that can act as reservoirs for floodwaters in emergencies without harming people or infrastructure. Builders are also moving dikes farther from the river to create additional space for floodwaters.

BRINGING IT HOME
On the coast of Texas, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is investigating similar plans to combat storm surges. “The biggest element we’re considering is a large gate structure in the Houston-Galveston area that could be closed if a storm is coming,” says Sharon Tirpak, who is overseeing the study. One possible design resembles the Maeslantkering. “If it’s chosen, it would be one of the largest structures in the world,” she says. For storms like Harvey that dump massive amounts of rain, a sea gate would do little to stop flooding. So the Texas study is also evaluating how natural features like wetlands could help absorb heavy rains. The fact that so much of Houston is covered in concrete is one reason it flooded so badly, says Henk Ovink, the Dutch special envoy for water affairs. His job is to share Dutch expertise in flood management with countries around the world. Restoring native prairies and wetlands, which can soak up water, could help protect Texas and other areas against future floods. A team from USACE recently visited the Netherlands to tour Dutch coastal defenses. And Dutch flood engineers came to the U.S. to compare methods for evaluating the stability of levees—our version of dikes. Ovink says the challenges ahead represent an opportunity for coastal communities to come together to innovate. “In the form of rising seas and storms, water gives a tangible meaning to climate change that we have to prepare for,” he says. “But we can do this. It doesn’t have to be something we fear.” —Jennifer Barone

Besides the Netherlands, other countries and cities around the world are developing innovative approaches to prevent and adapt to floods. Here are a few.

The city is building “green alleys” made with permeable materials like special kinds of concrete and paving stones that allow water to pass through or between them instead of collecting on the surface.

FUTURE CITY: Gardens and trees line a public space. )

STORM MODE: Soil and channels help absorb and divert water.

CHINA is constructing 16 “sponge cities” that incorporate wetlands and rooftops covered with plants. The plants will soak up water, and the wetlands will store water during storms.

BANGLADESH
A new project will bring five floating shipping containers—including essential facilities like a floating classroom and a kitchen—to a flood-prone neighborhood.
(WATERSTUDIO)

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Water World

By FuturARc
Jan. Feb. 2018

WATER WORLD
Groundbreaking solutions are being invented by forward-thinking architects to show how coastal cities can become more resilient, viewing climate change as an opportunity to lead the way in waterborne and floodresistant architecture.

Sea levels are rising to new highs, temperatures are increasing, and floods and storms are getting fiercer and more widespread. Climate change is not just about the risk of floods and drowning, but also the financial cost of damaged property and businesses; as well as how it will redefine which parts of a city are sought after and which are unsafe. A 1-metre sea level rise would reorganise maps and affect financial stability in many of the world’s biggest waterfronts, in cities like New York and Miami, and low-lying areas in Bangladesh, Vietnam and the Philippines. By resolving the issues stemming from climate change and urbanisation, water-based architecture is redefining urbanism. Offering a minimally invasive method of construction, modern floating developments take advantage of coastal zones, rivers, lakes and canals in spacestarved cities and provide flexibility as they may be modified, moved and reused until the end of their life cycles when they are recycled. The technologies and innovations required for water-based constructions already exist, but now changing the perception towards floating schemes is key to a more sustainable and safer future that will be able to meet modern-day challenges. What if instead of fighting rising sea levels, we embrace the water by integrating it into our cities, creating resilient buildings and infrastructure that can deal with extreme flooding and heavy rains?

A leader in floating architecture who sees the potential that water can bring in making cities more resilient and safer, Koen Olthuis and his Amsterdambased firm Waterstudio (founded in 2003) have been showing the benefits of building on water and how befriending water is a means for survival. Olthuis believes that for centuries, as the climate and sea levels have been relatively stable, the resulting built environments have become too static. Now, with the arrival of uncertainty, cities should be designing with mobility and flexibility, viewing urban water as a chance to upgrade cities rather than a side effect. He states, “We are at the tipping point of entering the next kind of city. We have now the static modern city, but in one or two years from now, we’ll see that the green city will flourish. Then the next city to start will be the smart city with autonomous cars and more data availability—all to create a better city. But we are even one step further. We believe in the rise of the blue city. Cities that are next to, connecting to 1 or have water will start to use that water to create
cities that are more flexible, responsive, adaptive and built to change. So if there’s a need for cities that react to the seasons, that are different in winter than in summer, we can do it on water. We can do it better on water than on land because on water, everything is flexible and you can move complete
urban components.” Dynamic hydro-cities adaptable to changing needs should already be letting water in and making it part of the city, so that rising sea levels or storms would mean living with a bit more water instead of a sudden shock when conditions go from dry to flooded.

To plan for the future, a resilient city should concentrate on which areas should be kept dry, which can be changed from dry to wet, and which existing waters can be expanded; it is all about fighting water with water, wetting up the city. At-risk cities have to make the choice to become climate refugees or adopt floating technologies and become climate innovators.

NEW YORK CITY
New York has few flood protections, but that will soon change. In 2012, Lower Manhattan flooded and was left in the dark during Hurricane Sandy, with the greatest extent of inland flooding along the borough’s eastern edge, costing the public billions of dollars. Floodwaters up to 3 feet deep not only inundated the East River Park esplanade, ball fields and plantings, but they also crossed FDR Drive, enveloping streets and buildings. It was following the US Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Rebuild by Design competition in 2013, seeking new ideas for improving coastal resiliency in the Sandy-affected region, that a proposal led by Danish architectural firm Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) came about. Dubbed the BIG U, it called for separate but coordinated plans for three contiguous sections of the East River waterfront in Lower Manhattan named compartments, in close coordination with residents, stakeholders and city officials.

Architect Bjarke Ingels states, “The BIG U focuses on Manhattan to address the question: how can we create 10 contiguous miles of flood protection without creating a sea wall, separating the life of the city from the water around it?” Winning the 2015 AIA Institute Honor Awards for Regional & Urban Design, the 1,000,000-square-metre BIG U is a protective system that stretches over low-lying geography from West 54th Street south to The Battery and up to East 40th Street, comprising multiple but linked design projects based on different scales of time, size and investment, where each local neighbourhood customises its own set of programmes, functions and opportunities. More than just a flood barrier, it also provides community-desired amenities. BIG analysed the social, cultural, historical and environmental landscape of each community to determine the best site-specific strategies for protection. At East River Park, it raised the topography of the underused areas between the sports fields and along service roads to screen the park from highway noise and protect the neighbourhood from floods. The introduction of bike lanes and conversion of caged bridges into High Line-like green passages allow for pedestrian access into the newly elevated, resilient coastal parkland, while other modes of circulation such as the highway or future subways could be integrated as well. Ingels says, “Many of the world’s cities are threatened by flooding. Most coastal cities today are using typical flood protection measures that create a wall between the city and the water. We’re looking at how existing infrastructure in coastal cities can serve new and better uses—take the High Line for example, a piece of decommissioned railroad that has become one of the most popular promenades in the city. We thought, ‘What if we could learn from the High Line, and create the Dry Line?’ Instead of waiting for infrastructure to become obsolete before converting it into a public amenity, what if we could design the resilient infrastructure of Manhattan to come with positive social and environmental side effects from day one?”

The USD760-million East Side Coastal Resiliency Project was born from the BIG U concept. Jointly funded by the City of New York and the federal government, it runs from East 25th Street to Montgomery Street. Led by the NYC Department of Design and Construction, Department of Parks and Recreation as well as the Mayor’s Office of Recovery and Resiliency and working with community partners and residents, it will provide improved coastal protection to more than 110,000 vulnerable New Yorkers through 2.2 miles of enhanced waterfront, ecology and urban spaces, demonstrating a new model for integrating coastal protection into
neighbourhoods upon its expected completion in 2024.

BANGLADESH
Mohammed Rezwan, Bangladeshi architect and founder of the non-profit organisation Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha, is well aware that local livelihoods depend on strategies for living alongside and benefitting from waterways.

“I thought as an architect, I would design exciting things to help the poor in my own communities,” Rezwan says. “I considered dedicating my life to building schools and hospitals in flood-prone areas, then realised they would be underwater soon. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says that by 2050, the country could lose 16 per cent of its land to floods, and as many as 20 million people could be left with nowhere to live. Ten per cent of people worldwide live less than 10 metres above sea level and in high-risk zones for floods—about 75 per cent of them in Asia. Not only do floods cause the loss of lives and livelihoods, they also severely interrupt children’s education. That’s why I started designing spaces on boats for school. I thought that if children cannot come to school, then the school should come to them.” The floating school collects students from their homes, moors to the riverside and provides on-board small-group instruction. After school, students take home a recharged, low-cost solar lantern, which provides light at night by which they can study and women can do craftwork to earn extra income, which is also sold to community members to fund the initiative. In the evening, the boats project educational programmes onto screens that people can watch from their homes. The project has even helped to develop floating crop beds to ensure year-round food supply and income for families in flood-prone areas.

Working with local boat builders, Rezwan designed the schools by altering traditional Bangladeshi wooden boats, using native materials and building methods. With a main cabin that can fit 30 children, the boats are 55 feet long by 11 feet wide, incorporating a flat-bottomed hull; flexible wooden floors; top-hinged side windows for daylight and natural ventilation; arched metal beams for column-free spaces; outward-inclining bamboo and wood walls; and monsoon-proof curved roofs with large overhangs equipped with solar panels. It costs BDT1,350,000 to build a single-storey school boat, exclusive of equipment, school supplies and other operational costs. Rezwan began with USD500 in 1998, then received a USD5,000 grant from the Global Fund for Children in 2003, followed by USD100,000 from the Levi Strauss Foundation, and a USD1 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2005. Today, Shidhulai’s floating school model has spread across the world, and school boats serve children in flood-prone regions in Cambodia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Pakistan, India, Nigeria and Zambia.

LIFEARK
LifeArk is a prefabricated, modular building system for mass-produced, affordable, safe, sustainable and easily deployable and assembled housing. Designed for disaster relief and refugee or homeless housing, these self-sustaining, lifesaving homes for water or land that will mobilise economic development and regeneration for millions of slum dwellers and displaced peoples worldwide can be scaled up into communities in different configurations: a school, hospital, livestock or hydroponics farm, or community centre for small businesses. With the option to operate 100 per cent off-grid, allowing units to be moved around as
needed, LifeArk’s modular roof can be fitted with photovoltaic panels, a rainwater harvesting system where a single-family home can store over 30,000 litres of filtered drinking water, a filtration system so that water needed for all other uses can be pumped up from the river, and a portable sewage treatment system. It was selected as one of 17 semi-finalists in the 2017 Buckminster Fuller Challenge, an annual honour known as “socially-responsible design’s highest award”.

Korean-born American architect Charles Wee, founder of GDS Architects and LifeArk, discusses the need for affordable floating architecture, “There are many floating structures being built around the world to address rising water levels. However, many of them are still extremely expensive and are essentially conventional homes being built on buoyant foundations, and mainly serve a high-priced waterfront housing market. Several factors inhibit existing solutions to truly scale as a solution for communities most affected by climate change: speed, cost and policies. Often, existing floating structures require a significant amount of site preparation, much like that of a conventional home—the speed of delivery and assembly cannot adequately address the rapidly growing need.
Additionally, current projects are simply unaffordable for those who need it most. With the number of climate refugees expected to increase mostly due to flooding, there is a pressing need to proactively respond to this challenge. Many major cities in the developing world are already struggling to properly house their rapidly growing population—a trend that is only expected to grow. For example, in Nigeria, the scarcity of land and affordable housing has pushed people out onto the waters, resulting in the Makoko floating slum community (home to nearly 250,000 residents). LifeArk can rapidly provide resilient homes by master planning communities onto the water, addressing the land scarcity [issue] many cities are facing.”

Roto-moulded with environmentally-stable, recyclable and zero-maintenance high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and injected with polyurethane foam with inherent additives to form a composite material to provide fire resistance, buoyancy, thermal performance and structural values, LifeArk units are prefabricated via a module-based construction system that ensures efficiency in manufacture, assembly, relocation and reassembly, with a lifespan of 20 to 30 years. Interior walls, flooring and finishes may be customised. Arriving on-site, each module can be quickly assembled by unskilled workers using standard tools in just two hours. The only skilled labour required on-site is connections to sewers. LifeArk cuts the total design and construction time for prefabricated architecture in half, while its persquare- foot cost is expected to be approximately one-third of the price of conventional ground-up housing. LifeArk will apply a manufacturing protocol using US life safety standards to all parts of the world to use locally sourced HDPE and set up factories for manufacture, final assembly and site adaptation as required in future.

Olthuis concludes, “We are in a very exciting moment in time where architects and urban planners have to rethink the way we live and use our resources. We have to look carefully at how space is being used, and that space can change functionality immediately if it’s on water. You can pop in or take out floating functions for different uses throughout the year: parks, offices, houses, entertainment and car parks. If you go one step further, cities that are close to each other, like 50 or 100 kilometres from each other, both next to water, could start to build and share big public functions. A city is in constant evolution: from a normal city to a green city, a smart city and eventually a blue city, and that blue city should be better than all the cities before it.
Water is the next frontier; it’s the next place where cities will start to expand, while improving liveability, sustainability, safety and flexibility.”

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Wonen op water is interessante voorbereiding op stijging zeespiegel

By Gidi Pols
NU.nl
May.16.2018

 

Nederland telt steeds meer woningen waarvan de fundering drijft op water. In Woerden is bijna een wijkje af en in Zeewolde begint de bouw in het voorjaar. NU.nl sprak met bewoners, bouwers en experts over de kansen en obstakels van huizen op water.

In heel Nederland drijven ongeveer vijfhonderd woningen, schat waterwoningarchitect Koen Olthuis. “Dat zijn woningen gebouwd volgens het bouwbesluit en met een eigen kavel. Geen woonarken dus.”

Slechts 150 daarvan zijn echt ontwikkeld voor permanente bewoning, voegt projectontwikkelaar Olaf Janssen daaraan toe. “Maar het laatste jaar is de bouw in een stroomversnelling gekomen.”

Janssen woont sinds 2013 op het water bij Delft. “De gemeente gaf kavels vrij. Toen ik een waterwoning wilde laten bouwen, kwam ik erachter dat er geen geschikt bouwsysteem was. Dus begon ik zelf een bedrijf.”

Nu bouwt hij in een recreatieplas bij Woerden twaalf woningen en begint de bouw van twintig drijvende huizen bij Zeewolde in het voorjaar. “We hebben nog voor tientallen andere locaties projecten in de pijplijn.” Tegelijkertijd ontwikkelt een ander architectenbureau achttien huizen in de Nassauhaven, een oude Rotterdamse stadshaven.

Vakantie

Een van de waterwoningbezitters is Martin van Eijk. Met zijn vrouw en zoon verhuisde hij deze zomer naar een drijvend huis op de Woerdense recreatieplas. “In het begin voelde het elke dag als vakantie. Een huis in de Randstad met vrij zicht over het water, waar vind je dat nou?”, zegt Van Eijk.

“We hebben er nauwelijks onderhoud aan. Anders dan bij een woonboot hoeft het huis niet uit het water voor onderhoud. Door het speciale stucwerk en de kunststofkozijnen hoeven we boven water ook nauwelijks iets te doen. Mijn vorige huis had een hoop houtwerk. Dat moesten we elke drie jaar verven”, merkt Van Eijk op.

Architect Olthuis ziet nog drie belangrijke verklaringen voor de toenemende bouwnijverheid op water. “Allereerst zijn drijvende woningen flexibeler. Nu zie ik vaak dat gebouwen soms al na twintig jaar worden afgebroken omdat er nieuwe plannen zijn. Op land is dat doodzonde. Maar in het water kunnen de huizen heel makkelijk verplaatst worden. Het gebied kan dan weer gebruikt worden voor iets anders.”

Water genoeg

Daarnaast wordt ruimte efficiënter benut, zegt Olthuis. “In steden als Amsterdam en Rotterdam is veel behoefte aan nieuwe woningen, maar nauwelijks meer grond beschikbaar. Water is er wel genoeg.” Ook de vele plassen, kanalen en sloten die dienen als bergingswater kunnen goed gebruikt worden voor bebouwing.

“Bijkomend voordeel is dat huizen op bergingswater veiliger zijn dan naast bergingswater”, aldus Olthuis. Doordat de huizen drijven, stijgen ze met het water mee bij overstromingen. Terwijl de kelders en begane grond van andere huizen nat worden, houden de bewoners van de waterwoningen droge voeten.

Vooral die laatste reden is belangrijk voor de gemeente Rotterdam, zegt gemeenteplanoloog Walter de Vries. “Rotterdam heeft een open verbinding met de zee. Wij hebben eb en vloed. Drijvende woningen stijgen mee. Maar het is een illusie, dat drijvend wonen flexibeler is. Technisch gezien klopt dat misschien, maar het is financieel en juridisch ingewikkeld. Daarnaast wortelen de bewoners zich ook op een plek.” Het ruimtegebrek is volgens De Vries voor Rotterdam geen argument. “Plek op land vinden is nog altijd makkelijker.”

Terughoudendheid

De terughoudendheid van de overheid wordt al jaren het belangrijkste obstakel genoemd. Bouwbedrijf Dura Vermeer bouwde in 2003 al 46 drijvende vakantiewoningen in een zijtak van de Maas bij Maasbommel. Vijf jaar later was er zelfs een heus Nationaal Congres Waterwonen.

“Iedereen vindt de plannen op het gebied van waterwonen leuk”, zei medeorganisator Ties Rijcken van de TU Delft destijds. “Maar in de praktijk wordt er nauwelijks iets gedaan.” De obstakels die toen gesignaleerd werden waren “bureaucratische rode stoplichten”, projectontwikkelaars met “koudwatervrees” en twijfelende consumenten die vreesden voor de rechtszekerheid.

Dura Vermeer bouwde nog het drijvend paviljoen in Rotterdam en 32 vakantiewoningen in het Limburgse deel van de Maas. “Maar toen de crisis kwam zijn we gestopt”, vertelt woordvoerder Glenn Metselaar. “Het was echt pionierswerk, waarin we veel tegen regelgeving aanliepen. Dus moesten we enorm lobbyen. Daar was in de crisis geen geld voor.”

Koudwatervrees

Nu de crisis achter de rug is, lopen de voorvechters van de waterwoning nog vaak tegen die rode stoplichten van gemeentes en koudwatervrees van ontwikkelaars aan. “De techniek is niet het probleem”, erkent gemeenteplanoloog De Vries.

“Het ingewikkelde zijn de organisatorische en juridische vragen. Veel projecten stranden omdat het water in gebruik is. Water lijkt misschien leeg, maar heeft vaak een functie. Bijvoorbeeld voor de beroepsvaart. We hebben verschillende voorstellen gehad om honderden huizen te bouwen op de Rijnhaven, maar van die haven willen we juist graag de publieke functie behouden”, aldus De Vries.

Toch ziet de gemeenteplanoloog de voordelen van drijvende woningen. “Drijvend bouwen is een superinteressante voorbereiding op de zeespiegelstijging. Daarnaast trekt het een nieuwe groep avontuurlijke mensen naar de stad.”

De toekomstige woningen in de Nassauhaven zijn een essentiële proef. “Als die er liggen en het blijkt een succes, komen er komende jaren waarschijnlijk honderden drijvende woningen bij in Rotterdam. We denken nu bijvoorbeeld al na over een project in de Merwe-Vierhavens.”

Vooral op juridisch vlak is de ontwikkeling van de Nassauhaven al een belangrijke proeftuin. De Vries: “De woningen zijn verankerd, daardoor zijn ze niet verplaatsbaar. Ondanks dat ze drijven. Daardoor kunnen de bewoners een normale hypotheek krijgen.”

Hypotheek

Als banken niet de zekerheid hebben dat de woning lang op een plek blijft, zijn de waterwoningbezitters aangewezen op een woonboothypotheek.

Grote hypotheekverstrekkers als ABN Amro en Aegon bieden deze hypotheken niet aan. Voormalig marktleider ING stopte vorig jaar eveneens met woonboothypotheken omdat er jaarlijks “nog geen paar honderd” werden verstrekt en het een “onzekerder product” is. Daardoor bleef alleen de relatief dure woonboothypotheek van Rabobank over.

In Woerden dacht de gemeente daarom mee met de bewoners. “De gemeente heeft een permanente woonvergunning uitgegeven”, vertelt bewoner Van Eijk. “Het water onder ons huis is eigen grond en we hebben vaste nutsvoorzieningen.”

Dankzij deze permanente woonvergunning kon Van Eijk een normale woonhuishypotheek krijgen. “Het voelt ook als een gewoon huis. Alleen bij storm zie je af en toe een lamp bewegen.”

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Waterstudio at BBC

BBC

Are floating homes the next frontier for urban design?

Architecture that works with water, rising with floods and sitting upon unused city space, may be the future of urban planning, say these innovative designers.
Buildings and communities that can float on water may be the next step in the evolution of cities, according to some avant-garde housing designers.

Many of the world’s largest cities sit next to, or are built around, large bodies of water. In the light of unprecedented population growth, climate change, flooding and rising sea levels, are floating homes the next frontier in urban living?

Watch the video to see two leading architecture firms describe their innovative concepts for life on water.

Click here to see the video

Wohnst du noch, oder schwimmst du schon?

By Robert Uhde
Alsecco Aface
Feb.2017

DIE IDEE, AUF DEM WASSER ZU LEBEN, IST NICHT NEU. ABER SIE HAT SICH IN DEN VERGANGENEN JAHREN DEUTLICH GENADELT. DENN ANGESICHT DES ZUHNMEND KNAPPER WERDENDEN WOHNRAUMES TRIFFT MAN IN MASTERDAM, LONDON, HAMBURG ONDER ANDERSWO NICHT MEHR NUR AUF ABGETAKELTE BARKSSEN, SODERN LANGST AUCH AUF MODERNE ARCHITEKTEN-HAUSBOOTE ODER SOGAR AUF SCHWIMMENDE SIEDLUNGEN.

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