Our project focuses on small-scale climatic adaptations to the Maas and Dieze rivers in Den Bosch. One day, the inhabitants of the Henriettewaard will have to deal with a new realities of extreme weather conditions. The daily lives of people living in flood-prone areas became a point of interest for our team. How can the inhabitants cope with this reality, and how can we as a team provide them with guidance and support? We present a story of a region that adapts to climate change and harmonises with the natural rhythms of the water. Its inhabitants no longer live battle against the water; instead, they embrace the change through new rituals and spatial interventions. Living along the Meuse and Dieze rivers, they collect rainwater and adapt the landscape and their households to accommodate occasional floods. These interventions are the rituals that enhance biodiversity, which in turn enables harvesting of local materials (plants, soil). In this way, the cycle of crops; from pioneer vegetation, to various edible plants and shrubs serves multiple functions. It nourishes the residents and provides natural, biobased materials to help adapt their home to the changing environment. The community celebrates these new, wet harvesting and building rituals, vital for the cultural and ecological resilience of the future. 

Title: Rituelen van de Henriettewaard
Location: Henriettewaard, Den Bosch, Netherlands 
Client: Kunstloc Brabant 
Year: 2024 
Team: Elena Dobretsova, Zuzana Jancovicova, Marieke Berkers, Hyeisoo Kim