The Aquarians

A spirit of inventiveness and tenaciousness permeates the establishment of the Dutch state and its fight against water. Water was kept at a safe distance by dams and dikes. Today water is allowed more space and is even allowed to penetrate residential areas.

Real estate agents have known for some time now that water, aside from being dangerous, can also be attractive, especially to live near to. Recent urban planning also illustrates the desire to increase water storage capacity. Water is the central theme in the plan of the Water Gardens in the ‘Bosche’ Vinex-neighborhood De Grote Wielen. Here, dwellings are grouped on islands, allowing everybody to live at the water.

NIO architects was commissioned to design 22 bridges for this plan. The presence of the water is so prominent here that NIO used the strategy: if you can’t beat them, join them. For the bridges NIO chose a design inspired by water instead of the typical tough and uncompromising look that characterizes most bridges. The bridges are shaped as “drops” on the map of the Water Gardens. Strictly speaking, it is the parapets of the bridges that, because of their form, show a relationship with the water. Made of steel tubes that flare out in the middle of the bridge and thus create a droplet shape. NIO itself compares the effect of the “trickle bridges” with the moment that Bambi saw his reflection in the lake. If bridge and the water in Den Bosch see themselves as each others mirror image remains unclear. One thing that is clear, though, is that crossing the waterways upon these gracious bridges is difficult to do unnoticed.

One can easily say that, in spite of the Delta works, the power and force of the water have only increased in the Netherlands. It has mainly adjusted its tactics. Instead of brute force, she now throws in all her charms and is slowly finding her way to areas far outside the polders, to the highest and driest places in the country. Following the slogan of ‘living by the water’ she takes great pleasure in flowing elegantly into new residential areas and is starting to seem unstoppable. This is also the case for Den Bosch, in the new residential area of De Grote Wielen, where waterways were built before roads.

It can hardly, therefore, be called a miracle that the 22 bridges in Den Bosch feel attracted to the water. Infrastructure constructions such as bridges and tunnels have always courageously resisted gravity and water pressure. It has been of no use, the water has already arrived in Brabant. This time no unbending bravery but graceful cooperation instead. If you can’t beat them… Just like Bambi seeing her facial traits for the first time in the reflection of a lake, these bridges beam with pure delight. Who would ever have thought of that, having the ideal of beauty at arm’s length!

The 22 drops we dribbled on the map of the Watertuinen (Water Gardens) have completely soaked the steel and concrete in the bridges. The apparently stiff and hard materials are completely embraced by the surface tension and now they are wrenching and bending their teardrop form way from one bank to another quay. The bridge is at its widest in the middle, where the steelwork is at its highest and the shape at its fullest. This is the point from where the bridge is no longer a bridge. The point at which passing cars start feeling jealous of the water too.