3 Meters Under
2020 . Netherlands
In collaboration with Hannah Zhu and Vittoria Poletto
The Challenge
For more than 10,000 years, farming has been a way for humans to domesticate the natural environment. Influenced by the market and society, farming has intensified, becoming more precise, more technologically equipped and adopting artificially-facilitated environments to produce even more and even ‘better’ food.
The Impact
With climate insecurity and increased sea-level rise threatening the future of contemporary architectural production practices, we explore how harnessing architecture and the increased ‘interiorisation’ of agricultural space can play a role in shaping the way we eat.
The Netherlands in particular is known for its greenhouses in the Glass City of Westland which contribute to the country being the 2nd largest agriculture exporter in the world after the USA. However 1/3 of the Netherlands is already below sea level. Assuming a scenario that by 2300 the Netherlands is 3m below sea level, we explore how the greenhouse’s innate flexibility enables it to be used to tackle the impending challenge of groundlessness.
“Much, if not most, of the Netherlands is a human creation, reclaimed from the
sea over a period of centuries.
Our history is one of the constantly testing the laws of water…”
Adrian Geuze
– Land, Cows and Pyramids
Services offered in Project
- Data Research & Analysis
- Storytelling
- Multiscale Systems-thinking
- Conceptual Design Development