Waterproof is the design of a pavilion and blueprint concept for the Land of Water biennial of the Zuiderzee museum in The Netherlands, who will commission the design and construction of a temporary visitors pavilion every 2 years, to be situated within the nature reserve area of the Zuiderzee Museum in The Netherlands.

This concept chooses the Museum’s dyke as the area of intervention for these rotating temporary structures, where the interaction with land, water and wind are the quintessential elements of the Dutch’s centuries long battle to master the elements.

The realization of one of the nation’s biggest undertaking, the Afsluitdijk -when sea became lake- was the turn of an era and marked the raison d’etre for the Zuiderzee Museum. The dyke at the Museum’s natural landscape has no longer a protecting function and will be accepted as an artifact that will serve as the archetypal element around which the future pavilions will be designed; engaging this symbol of Dutch engineering to its fullest extents, both heroic and vulnerable.

Mastering land and water has been a primary objective in Dutch history and it will continue to be a focal point in the future of the Lowlands. With the challenges of climate change and the threat of the rising level of the sea, the awareness of our vulnerability is as present as ever. Land of Water not only triumphs the successful battles of the past against its cruel Master, but more so will touch on the ongoing engagement with the elements in the future.

But the strongest endeavors can be our biggest weakness.

The potency of threat has been beautifully depicted in the epic ‘Dood Water’ (Dead Water, 1934), a movie by Gerard Rutten, in which the realization of the Afsluitdijk back in 1932 posed a threat for the economic and cultural life around the former Zuiderzee. The protagonist of the story, fisherman Willem de Geus, fights for his beliefs and attempts an act of terrorism; blowing up the Afsluitdijk. This relationship between the forces of nature, cherishing our cultural heritage and the consciousness of our vulnerability is what Land of Water advocates.

Waterproof will act as an exhilarator of this awareness by emphasizing the elements that surround this Land of Water and will narrate -in an abstract manner- the forces that be, the struggle it defies, the threat it poses and man’s hope and faith in technology to persevere.

And of course, the inherent beauty it brings.