Awards :

Second place Archiprix NL 2008

First prize Archiprix International 2009-2010

The flood of 1917 started the biggest land making projects of Holland ever build. The Markerwaard was one of these Zuiderzee projects. The construction started in 1942 during the Second World War but the German occupation stopped the works. The successful protests to never restart the construction resulted in a paradox. The half finished land winning which was meant to be a recreational and natural area has become a dying ecosystem. It is remarkable that nothing has been done on the damaged site of the Markermeer, knowing that to recover it is relatively simple. By making trenches in the bottom of the lake and lengthening the water edges, gradients are created in nature and the floating deposit will sink which results in cleaning the water. The sand from the trenches can be used for coastal security, nature, housing and recreation. The clean water strategy results in a ring of archipels: The MarkerAtoll.

Markeratoll

The ring of archipels consists of  the existing archipel of IJburg, the island Marken, the Markerreef, the Westvaarderseilanden, the bay of Lelystad and the Enkhuizerzand. An “icon of euphoria” celebrates a tradition of thousand years of making land out of the delta. This 400 meter high mountain will be a monument of landscape engineering to explain to all Japanese, American and Chinese tourists how Dutch people constructed their country. The reef is a laboratory to avoid erosion and to generate ecopower. The bay of Lelystad is a pleasurable bay with a marina for boats, floating houses and outside the harbour, a monastery. The Enkhuizerzand islands are an oasis of still water in the rough water of the lake. This oasis is working as a kidney to clean the water and it also functions as a nursery for the flora and fauna of the park. On the barrier itself metropolitans have their gardens to relax from their work. These mini vacation, ecological recovery islands are the blessing of the new balance between the metropolis and the Dutch landscape.