WATEROFFERS (WATER SACRIFICES)

for Broekpolder in collaboration with PARKLAAN Landschapsarchitecten. Commissioned by the municipals Heemskerk and Beverwijk.

‘Water Sacrifices’ connects the archaeology in the Broekpolder with the OerIJ, with its marshlands, and the water management in the modern suburbs. ‘Water Sacrifices’ introduces new customs and rituals for a modern settlement. Mysterious white stones were found in a historical sacrificial place near the water of the OerIJ. Now, every household in the Broekpolder receives a white ‘sacrificial stone’ from us. This project brings the archaeological and geological story of the landscape together with the extraordinary water system of the Broekpolder suburbs. “If one leaves the polder, the stone will be sacrificed…” Archaeological investigation raises the suspicion that the spatial planning of the pre-historic settlements and sacrificial places in the OerIJ are a mirror-image of the nocturnal starry sky. In today’s Broekpolder, a long singel (the Offersingel) stretched between two roundabouts. The roundabouts form the ‘source’ and the ‘whirl’. In the Offersingel are four concrete (marsh)islands like ‘constellations in the Milky Way’; Hydra, Cygnus, Pisces, and Auriga. The changing water levels in the Offersingel become readable when the islands peek out from the surface of the water. LED lights on the surface of the islands light up at night and paint the different constellations in the Offersingel. A ‘fossil’ water plant, EQUISETUM FLUVIATILE, grows near the island on the banks of the Offersingel. The spores of this plant spread via the water, ‘along the stream…’

Design: 2003/2005
Start construction: 2005
Completion: 2011
Click HERE for a booklet about WATER SACRIFICES (Dutch)