NEW DUTCH ARCHITECTURE 73
whole of Western Europe. Te vast Markermeer lake was created in 1976 when a dam was built between Enkhuizen and Lelystad, reclaiming land from the sea but also disconnecting this 700km2
body of water
from the sea and surrounding rivers. Over time, the lake stagnated: with barely any shores, and wind and waves regularly churning up the sediment from the shallow (2-4m deep) lake floor, sunlight was unable to percolate through to nourish the plants on which fish and birds depend. This led to a steep decline in their populations. An innovative solution proposed using the very silt and clay that is clogging up the water to construct new islands that prioritise bird and plant life, while contouring the lake bed to improve the flow and filtration of the water, and rebalance the delicate aquatic ecosystem (see Marker Wadden case study). Luckily, they had just the local expertise they needed for the job, courtesy of Boskalis, a Dutch company that has built a global legacy of massive land and water projects, not least Palm Island in Dubai and, more recently, widening the Suez Canal. Commissioned by Natuurmonumenten,
the Netherlands’ largest private organisation for nature conservation, with over 100,000 hectares of land and water under its jurisdiction, the resulting complex of islands prioritises biodiversity, with just a few, lightweight timber structures offered for visitors and researchers. It’s the kind of ambitious, mind-boggling project that seems second nature to the Dutch: over 30 million litres of sand and sediment was cleared and relocated around the lake in this initiative. Since completion in 2021, the water quality and wildlife is improving, with rare species of plants, insects, fish and birds now returning to the marshes, mudflats, shallow pools, creeks and channels. I had the privilege of visiting this biodiverse
haven in October 2024, and the experience of being on this little archipelago in the middle of a vast body of water is exhilarating. Flevoland, the region where the Marker
Wadden sits, is itself an extraordinary reclamation project, only a little more than 60 years old. Protected by the aforementioned dikes and dunes, most of Flevoland sits 6m below sea level. It is now the fastest-growing region in the Netherlands. Only a 20-minute train ride from Amsterdam, new towns such as Almere are booming. But residents are not just commuters to Amsterdam or Rotterdam; there are high-tech manufacturing and logistics businesses taking advantage of its location in the centre of the country, with two thriving ports nearby, plus an airport and fast roads. Furthermore, the good thing about new (or newly reclaimed land) is that nobody
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