A fruitful partnershipA fruitful partnership

Participants in a series of workshops conducted research on the relationship between water management and urban planning through the study of historical materials from Het Nieuwe Instituut’s archive. The third and final workshop, led by landscape architect Lodewijk van Nieuwenhuijze (H+N+S Landschapsarchitecten), investigated the relationship between research and design. Participants in the public workshop looked at how understanding of a site’s natural conditions can be integrated into spatial designs and how such integration can come about through cooperation between designers and researchers.

To what degree does a designer conduct preliminary research, and what can it accomplish? Did designers such as Van Eesteren and Bijhouwer engage in a linear planning process? Did they begin with research and then start designing, or did design concepts play an early role in the process? Did their design ideas guide the research process and the refinement of research questions and vice versa? Did an exchange take place?

Workshop participants addressed these questions in light of historical and contemporary spatial planning practice, which emphasises designing in dialogue with natural conditions. Designers, researchers and historians discussed planning and planning processes, starting with common questions: Which phases can be distinguished in the planning process? What relationship exists between designers and researchers in that process? And finally, does working in an integrated manner result in added value or a higher plan quality?

With presentations on:

·         J.T.P. Bijhouwer’s plans for the Wieringermeerpolder, the village of Kethel near Schiedam and other projects, by Gerrie Andela;

·         Cornelis van Eesteren’s design for Buitenveldert and the Sloterplas in Amsterdam, by Lara Voerman and Minke Walda (SteenhuisMeurs);

·         Vista Landschapsarchitectuur en Stedenbouw’s projects arising from collaboration between Rik de Visser and Sjef Janssen;

·         projects by H+N+S Landschapsarchitecten, in which design research played a key role in a cyclical planning process involving various disciplines.

Moderator of this workshop was Jannemarie de Jonge (Wing).

This study day comprised part of the Water & Urban Development project, a study on climate-adaptive design that was part of the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment’s ActieAgenda Architectuur and Ruimtelijke Ordening.