GLOWLAND

Macro

Noordoostpolder

THE LOSS OF THE PROMISED LAND

Seventy-five years ago, for many Dutch people, no better life could be imagined than one of a farmer. The reclamation of the Noordoostpolder meant a new milestone for the Netherlands in its own autarky, but also meant a completely new start for 1500 farming families. No fewer than 11.000 farmers applied for this created ideal society. They were chosen for their proven ability and, more importantly, a healthy pioneering spirit.

The top farmers were not only assigned the task of cultivating the desolate piece of former IJsselmeer soil together with the land designers, but also of delivering top agricultural productions. The Noordoostpolder was therefore the land of unlimited possibilities, especially for farmers' sons. After almost a century of landscape stagnation, the Netherlands' great need for agricultural land prompted a renewed urge to expand. With the Noordoostpolder, no less than 46,000 hectares were added to the Dutch landscape.

In the twentyfirst century, the iconic agricultural polder has entered an identity crisis. Due to environmental problems, the descendants of the polder pioneers are increasingly limited in the use of manure, while worldwide food shortages are only increasing. The farmers of the Noordoostpolder, who were once promised to become the best farmers in the Netherlands, now stand with their hands tied in the corner. How to preserve the cultural heritage of the Noordoostpolder and at the same time give a new impulse to the village of Nagele?

LANDSCAPE OF ART AND TECHNOLOGY

After nearly a century of landscape stagnation, a great need for agricultural land sparked a new urge for expansion. The Noordoostpolder was more than double the size of the Wieringermeer, which had set the record shortly before.

The apparently adolescent pride for that time cannot be viewed separately from the path that Dutch art had taken shortly before. The artists inspired the land makers and vice versa. Mondriaan managed to capture the world in 1915 with Pier and Ocean in his apparently rational, almost mathematical works. Twelve years later, the Wieringermeer was created and nine years later the perfected Noordoostpolder, whose water network is indisputably related to Mondrian's decisive work of art. The experimental use of the water system thus not only elaborates on the progressive urges of architect groups as De 8 and De Opbouw.

NEW PRODUCTION LANDSCAPE

The energy transition in the Netherlands is perhaps the largest spatial task at the moment. The climate goals can only be approached if we really dare to think about a systemic change in our landscape. Where better than in Nagele, where pioneering and visioning has shaped the country and society so strongly? What is needed is an energy transition where the farmland and the village of Nagele will reinvent themselves. From a landscape in which food production has fallen behind to a production landscape in which there is also room for the generation of clean energy and clean water. An opportunity arises in what has hitherto been seen as a problem: the use of phosphates in agriculture as a food source for algae.

Each village in the Noordoostpolder will have its own system of algae cultivation. We attach this to the existing hierarchy of the water network, consisting of ditches, trips and canals. With minor adjustments it is possible to make closed algae systems from the ditches and drafts together.

Schokland is visually connected to Nagele by the Nagelertocht. In this area, the technique and experience of algae cultivation come together in a recreational highlight. Surrounding Schokland with water again creates a stronger contrast between island and polder. The tourist impulse generated by this overwhelming landscape flows over the region.