A plaza on dry days, a reservoir when the sky opens

The Noorderveld kwartier sits below sea level, surrounded by hard surfaces that send heavy rain straight into an overloaded sewer. The block's central yard was a flat asphalt car park that flooded after every cloudburst.

Squares that fill and empty

We sank three connected squares up to 1.2 metres below street level. On dry days they are a basketball court, stepped seating terraces and a shallow play basin. In a cloudburst, they fill one after another and hold up to 1.8 million litres of water, releasing it slowly once the storm has passed.

Water you can see

Polished stainless steel gutters carry rainwater from the surrounding roofs across the plaza in the open, so residents can watch the system work. Blue-grey concrete edges mark the water levels each square is designed to reach.

Built for everyday life

Nine workshops with neighbours shaped what the squares would be used for when dry. Wet-tolerant perennials and 46 trees in structural soil soften the space, and the district now uses the project as a template for water squares elsewhere in the city.