Embassy conference: Bringing together water experts, designers and the construction industry
“People and organisations should meander in the same way as a river,” says one of the speakers at the Embassy of Water conference during Dutch Design Week 2024. With gentleness and flexibility, change can also be achieved. But how do you do that? During the conference, around 50 water professionals, designers, and people from the construction sector came together to discuss how they can help restore water in their own practice. And how they can bring their colleagues along with this new perspective on water.
Love for water
Currently, we use water as a product: we pollute it and discard it. But this can and must change, says Anouk van der Poll, creative lead of the Embassy of Water. During the water conference, she aims to rekindle love for water with inspiring film clips and speakers. This event will show what design can do to learn to look at water differently: as a living ally.
Urgency to restore the water cycle
Love for water runs as a common thread throughout the morning. At the same time, it serves as a call to action for those present: awaken that love for water among colleagues in construction companies, water boards, government bodies, and other organisations. The film clips shown by Van der Poll during the conference not only highlight love for water, but also the urgency of restoring the water cycle. Every drop of water needs to go back into the ground and we must restore respect and gratitude for water. Regeneration on multiple levels.
Role of water in climate change
The first film ‘Water is Love ’ explores the role of water in climate change. Water activist Ati Quigua of the Arhuaco tribe in Colombia explains that water is the basis for their spatial planning. Philosopher Charles Eisenstein says in the film that part of the problem with the climate crisis is that we see nature as an object. ‘Treating water differently requires a different way of looking at our environment,’ says Van der Poll. ‘It is important that we understand water better, that we see water again. Water may be at the forefront of everything.’
Collaborating with water
‘How do you collaborate with water?’ asks moderator Jetske Thielen to the audience. Designer Ermi van Oers, with her project POND, creates floating lamps that indicate water quality. ‘I work together with the water with this, I get energy from the bacteria in the water. If I take good care of the water, the bacteria start giving more energy.’ Mirjam Bemelmans has a food forest in the Dommel floodplain. She asks herself, ‘What do you plant there, how do you adapt?’
How do you fall in love with water?
Lydia Fraaije, Voice of Water and biomimicry architect offers tips on falling in love with water again. Fraaije urges the attendees to prioritise their relationship with water.
May the vortex be with you
The next film clip explores Victor Schauberger’s ideas on natural water management. He states that a vortex, a whirlpool, revitalises water. After the film, there is time for discussion with other attendees. Someone from the Hollandse Delta water board talks with designer Ermi van Oers and says: “Most conversations at the water board are technical, but this project can make water quality much more tangible for colleagues.”
“Everything we come up with is not allowed”
Peter Scheer of Nijhuis Saur Industries designs technology to reuse water and fertilisers from human wastewater. He demonstrates how this technology can be applied in homes. “The message behind all these images is: ‘Just do it!’ Everything we come up with is not allowed. But we’re going to do it anyway. What do we want: that’s what matters. What’s possible, comes later.” Other attendees also experience barriers on the road to a water-friendly society. “What does it take to implement it anyway?” Leon Dielen from construction company Heijmans says: “Step outside your box. In many meetings, people quickly say: that’s not my responsibility.”
Design thinking for renewal
Arnoud Bladergroen is a design strategist and cultural innovator. He helps companies to innovate. Adapting corporate culture is very important in this process. But how do you do that? “With design thinking, you create opportunities,” he says. Responses from the audience show that it is difficult to bring innovation to the water and construction sector. “You need people with guts.” Another adds: “Employees often stay in their own policy domain. Putting those people together and hearing each other’s perspectives: that’s helpful.” Someone also says: “Try to turn frustration into wonder, always seek out the friction.”
“We want nature to come home here”
The conference concludes with a film clip about the regenerative farm on the Dommel run by Lianne van Genugten. The designer and farmer then speaks about the search for a stable business and the restoration of nature on the farm.
“We named our farm Vaderland (translation: Fatherland): it is my father’s land. And it also means coming home. We want nature to come home here. We need to find the balance between what people want and what nature needs. In every corner of the Dommel, you find life. That life keeps us in balance.”