IJsselmonde The open water in IJsselmonde consists mainly of canals, ditches and ponds. Imagine what could be done if all that water were combined and made navigable. And if one then introduced a higher water level into the various locations, with locks and drainage adding the dynamism of ebb and flow, or a water level that varied with the season, one would begin to realise that amphibious conditions can be achieved even in an existing urban area. IJsselmonde is a borough in the southern part of Rotterdam. Round the old village centre on the bank of the Nieuwe Maas lie extensive postwar housing estates made up of flats and family houses. Not surprisingly the three locations that the borough offered to the workshop are all surrounded by built-up areas. The first location was IJsselmonde's central borough park, more specifically the northern part of that park. This park has been poorly maintained for some years now and attracts few visitors. The site includes two former oilfields, a sports hall (which is up for demolition) and an outdated covered swimming bath. The second location was the polder between the old village of IJsselmonde and the Beverwaard housing estate dating from the beginning of the 1980s. Part of the polder is laid out as a park. The last location was the botanical garden, which is surrounded by housing, roads and industry. In the foreseeable future the botanical garden is to be moved to the park and here, unlike the first two locations, there are already firm plans for new building. Apart from a few ditches and ponds none of the locations have much in the way of open water. Anyone knowing no better would never suspect that the ground in IJsselmonde is as marshy as it is in South Holland's other peatland areas. The water level is kept constant and houses and other buildings stand on piles which rest on the deeper sand layers, so that people can behave as if were solid ground and forget that they are really living on 'yoghurt', as it was described by one of the invited experts. And this is yoghurt that is not uniformly thick but contains 'clots', so that things do not even sink into it at a uniform rate. In the workshop the obvious assumption, the common understanding, that IJsselmonde ground is normal ground, was subjected to much discussion. What are the consequences of this obvious assumption, for example the continuous subsidence of the ground? What would happen if the assumption were to be made that it is in fact marshy peatland, floating on water? It would certainly make it logical to treat the locations as amphibious and give some space back to the water. The fact that not only architecture and urban design but also art was represented in the workshop, led to an important breakthrough. The artist Krijn Giezen, responsible for the competition entry 'Het vijfde wiel' (The Fifth Wheel) made the breakthrough by not viewing the three scattered locations as three places offered separately by IJsselmonde. Instead, despite their considerable differences, he saw the park, the polder and the botanical garden as different elements in a much larger aquatic landscape, all affected by IJsselmonde's urbanisation. Stretches of water have disappeared and old connections between waterways have been interrupted by the town's infrastructure. The important thing would be to restore these connections and treat the three locations as polders, then to choose which of the valuable present-day elements could be retained. And finally to construct an inventory of those of IJsselmonde's amphibious programmes and programmes of wants which are capable of being used in further development. The Netherlands has been amphibious from its very beginnings. When men arrived in the country the countryside began to lose its natural amphibious wealth. For centuries now the Dutch have succeeded in using constantly improved technologies and greater knowledge and insight to adjust the aquatic landscape to suit their cultured wishes. Where once was water is now a polder. Where once was fen is now water. Every day, round the clock, the land is kept dry, less dry or wet. Water is kept out, and then when necessary let in again. All this experience with the control of water can be applied to reorganising the three locations and connecting them together. Amphibious dynamism could be provided by the daily cycle of ebb and flow in the Maas by using existing water courses and making a new connection with the river. A water regulation plan could be used to separate an amphibious IJsselmonde from the heavily polluted groundwater coming from the farming areas which surround the town. The idea of an aquatic IJsselmonde also goes well with Rotterdam's proposal to combine the green areas and wetlands on the left bank of the Maas into what has been termed an 'emerald belt'. Because IJsselmonde's new water system would be navigable, it would also be possible for the housing to express amphibious character. Floating housing containers could sail from one location to another, and would even be able to leave the area and get to the Nieuwe Maas via a lock or a lifting installation over the dyke. This possibility, and other possibilities like reusing offshore constructions for amphibious housing, as suggested in the Argentinian competition entry 'Nederlanding', gave the borough of IJsselmonde the idea of including the harbour location, currently up for sale, in the project. Cultural Landing Factory Since time immemorial the shipyard has been the ideal intermediary between water and land, a place where boats are taken out of the water to be patched up and where new vessels undergo their first test of seaworthiness. A place that makes constant use of the boundary between land and water. The former shipyard at Bolnes, in Rotterdam-IJsselmonde, is eminently suitable for the construction of a 'cultural landing factory'. Such a 'cultural landing factory' would be an important element in making possible adventurous housing. Moving, floating dwellings would be able to moor here and with the help of cranes could even be transferred to the IJsselmonde water system. This would be a place where people could look for a site on one of the amphibious locations. The former shipyard would be the ideal place to set up a factory for amphibious houses, while the dry dock, now disused, would be the ideal location for an amphibious museum where all manner of things ranging from the kingdom of amphibious animals to the rise and fall of the hovercraft could be exhibited. The Argentinian team sketched a plan for this which they called 'Harbour with Cultural Landing Factory'. Today many people derive their identity from travel rather than exclusively from the fixed place where they live. For many it will therefore no longer be obvious who lives where - and when. Amphibious living brings with it a different individual identity coupled with a special sort of freedom. The individual visitor could make use of Michelin Man wetsuits for his walk through the park. At various points round the park it would be possible to live in wind or water mills. The workshop also posed itself a political question, namely how to adjust the administrative and strategic obligations of the inhabitants to the administrative and strategic obligations of those living in 'flexible dwellings, some of them amphibious'. This could make a very interesting legal exercise. floating park The concept also provides space for other forms of amphibious housing. Further analysis taught that the concept of floating housing presented in the Japanese competition entry 'Floating Flop' can in principle be applied to each of the locations. A blueprint that provides space for endless variations can turn any situation into a residential environment, a habitat. The blueprint was for a structure which would emerge from the water - or from any other foundation - simply by rising above it. The buildings and the amphibious condition of the water were to be seen as two systems more or less autonomous from one another. The workshop also worked out a concept in which art, urban design, architecture and landscape were combined to form what might properly be called a 'symbiotic association'. The Belgian competition entry '+/- Tidal Urbanism', the basic principle of which was that no condition is ever permanent, served as a basis for sketches of features that would follow the movement of the water. These features would not only be floating homes but also, for example, a new route through the park that could assume different forms according to the flow of the water. Other features such as environmental and ecological measures, environmentally friendly energy sources and biodegradable amphibious dwellings were all included in the plan. Various proposals were also worked out for the park, covering such subjects as the replacement of the swimming bath and the provision of a multifunctional platform and an amphibious botanical garden. It seems that the amphibious programmes for the botanical garden would go remarkably well with plans already existing for a group of apartment blocks. Thus the IJsselmonde workshop came up not with a single unambiguous integrated design but a series of concepts, including a version of the opportunities offered by floating housing containers, a blueprint to make possible a town plan whose infilling could be varied regardless of the nature of the ground and a first step towards a symbiotic relationship between housing and other landscape elements. The common principle linking these ideas was the connection of the three locations with the addition of the harbour location to form part of an aquatic landscape for the whole of IJsselmonde.