Winner of the 2023 WLA Awards – Award of Excellence in the Commercial Residential Design category
The design is a spectacular residential and nature development area in Lisse Geestwater. With a high-quality plan for 450 dwellings in the polder, we use the landscape as a spatial and economic basis to build responsibly in nature and create a new type of nature-conscious development in the outlying area.
Where normally, in a polder, a layer of soil is applied, and houses are placed on top of it; with Geestwater, we have drastically reduced the addition of soil. We have placed the houses on mounds, creating a water-rich and pleasing landscape around them that responds to the various tasks of nature development, the water issue and the creation of a pleasant living environment.
USING LANDSCAPE AS SPATIAL AND ECONOMIC BASIS TO BUILD RESPONSIBLY IN THE COUNTRYSIDE
With Geestwater, we aim for a water-rich residential landscape that will greatly enhance the current natural value of the existing polder and transform the area into an accessible and unique landscape experience. With intimate residential clusters equipped with smaller private plots and built-up parking facilities, we create ample space for a vast water landscape with green-blue foothills that extend to all corners of the plan.
THE LANDSCAPE BECOMES CO-AUTHOR OF THE BUSINESS CASE
At the same time, we reduce costs by limiting road infrastructure, delayed rainwater drainage (so that no gullies or sewers need to be provided), and a much smaller area of pre-loading and foundations. This way, we create the same returns as a traditional Vinex development but with a much more intimate living quality, fewer cars and direct access to a 12-hectare water landscape.
We give nature as much space as possible in Geestwater. The soil types, surface water, natural banks, wetlands, mixed forests and flower meadows form the puzzle pieces of a natural and self-sustaining landscape. New habitats are created for specific species of butterflies, amphibians, and a rich arsenal of birds. In this way, we are turning Geestwater – now an empty and inaccessible polder – into a special landscape where people can enjoy living and nature.
Geestwater Lisse
Landscape Architect: DELVA Landscape architecture | Urbanism
Client: Municipality Lisse, Amvest, Woonstichting Stek
Ecology: Buiting Advies
Architects: Houben / van Mierlo architecten
Constructor: Aveco de Bondt
Technical advisor: SmitsRinsma
Renderings: ©Vivid Vision
Plans/Diagrams: DELVA Landscape architecture | Urbanism
