Description:

The ‘Marsh Machine’ draws human comparisons with a complex and dynamic site: de Verdronken Zwarte Polder, the Netherlands, to provide a productive medium to understand, research, restore and teach at the site.

Inspired by the broad range of expressions and characteristics of the tidal marsh, the human metaphor established gave rise to a coalition of ideas that would ensure a design that responds to the site in a relatable and productive way.

Through human agency, the marsh machine fosters the landscape behind it across time. As tidal waters pass through wide silt basins it reduces speed, allowing excess silt to be deposited and preventing the premature rising of the marsh which would eradicate the typologie’s unique biodiversity. Instead through careful management of silt levels, the tidal marsh will grow in complexity, branching outwards and hosting more diverse species.

However, the volume of silt collected in the basins alone would not be sufficient to cause a significant influence to the tidal marsh, for this reason the ‘Marsh Machine’ has its own agency to intervene. Utilising a core array of sensors and cameras in conjunction with artificial intelligence, the Marsh Machine has the ability to observe and monitor silt levels within the basins and, when necessary, extend a retractable transfer line, to pump excess silt away from the basin floor which will be stored within a temporary tank, to be released upon the reverse of the tidal flow.

The programmatic function of the building is an advanced testing, field research and accommodation facility for the NIOZ (the primary sea, climate and coastal research institution of the Netherlands).

This function is manifested through:
● An outdoor plinth for testing experiments with NIOZ boxes
● Interior research space for controlled sand, silt, and biological research
● Storage for tools and equipment
● High-tech ai lab with advanced sensors & equipment
● Limestone basins as a stable tidal experiment test bed
● Observation deck for atmospheric and landscape observation
● Accommodation for two team-members adjacent to the research spaces

Aligning with NIOZ’s role as educator, the Marsh Machine also hosts a mesh amphitheater providing a dynamic setting for presentations and workshops. This amphitheater hangs 400mm above the tidal basins and is made of mesh, allowing participants to observe directly beneath them the processes that restored the tidal marsh, in combination with the ai silt pump when it is engaged. This setting forms a clear picture of the positive impacts participants could make if they decide to commit to positive interventions through their own human agency.

The Marsh Machine is a celebration of what humans are capable of when we work productively towards positive goals. Through its human interpretations of de Verdronken Zwarte Polder, and its human agency in making gradual changes, the Marsh Machine is inspiring and relatable to its visitors while providing a cutting edge facility for the NIOZ and functioning within an emotive space that challenges our notions around the built environment and ai as a sensitive, or even poetic, material.