Today was our eleventh day in the Netherlands, and it began at 8. I got up and had a Latte, some sliced meat and cheese, a boiled egg, and pancakes for breakfast. After breakfast we got together as a group and walked to meet a tour guide to learn about urban gardens and rainwater management.
Our tour began at a building constructed in the 1960s for an insurance company. The building now houses many creative companies. We learned that the building also now has a green roof, which we learned more about at the end of our tour. After meeting our tour guide, we walked to a square which had a basketball court. The court was lowered down into the ground, and our guide said rainwater comes down from the buildings around the square and fills up the basketball court. This is important to prevent flooding, and once the rain subsides the water is drained into canals. We also saw another park in the ZOHO area, which had a similar idea to the basketball court.
After seeing some rainwater management infrastructure, we visited a park which was built where an old train station was. In fact, this was the first electric train line in the area. The park had many fruit trees and spaces for events, and they even used the old rail lines as walking paths. There was also a wooden bridge connected to the park, and the bridge was crowd funded by locals. I thought it was neat how the donors could even add text to a wood plank on the structure.
At the end of our tour, we visited the green roof on top of the building we started at. I learned that they had to be careful with the weight of the plants, and they even added a root resistant barrier to prevent roots from going through the roof. They had a variety of plants, and they even had some bees and chickens on the roof. I thought it was neat how the whole operation was run by a farmer and ten volunteers, and I enjoyed seeing how something as simple as a roof could make a positive impact on the environment and community.
After our tour of the green roof, we did a walking tour of Rotterdam city center. While many Dutch cities are like the historical Amsterdam, Rotterdam is different. Even though it still has bikes, Rotterdam is certainly more car friendly. It also differs from Amsterdam in having many more skyscrapers. The reason Rotterdam is different from the rest is because it had to be reconstructed after being bombed and burnt to the ground throughout a 4-day period in 1940. After the bombing, only a few buildings including city hall remained.
When Rotterdam was rebuilt, opinions started to change, and animosity began to form towards Amsterdam. Due to its reconstruction and growing economy, people in Rotterdam felt like they were working hard and funding social services while those in Amsterdam had it easy.
Later throughout our tour, we also learned about sustainable architecture in Rotterdam. Many building designers aim to get a LEED certification for their building, and they use many techniques to do so. LEED considers many factors including access to transportation, natural light, air quality, energy efficiency, and more when certifying a building. Additionally, each year LEED makes their certifications slightly more difficult to earn to constantly push sustainable development forward.
While on our tour, we saw a company called EDGE which specializes in sustainable construction. Their goal is to have immediate, zero carbon construction, and the company is famous for building a flexible office space for Deloitte. They often incorporate zoned HVAC and lighting, and even flexible working spaces into their buildings to increase efficiency and sustainability. I was interested to learn that skyscrapers have very little potential for energy generation since they have such small roofs, so energy efficiency is extremely important. For this reason, it seems like a green roof is more impactful than solar panels in urban environments. Fortunately, urban buildings can still opt to purchase energy from green sources to decrease their carbon output.
Throughout the rest of our tour, we visited the museum district and Port Pavilion. We then concluded our tour at the Markthal for lunch, which is a large indoor market. We now have free time, and we are trying to figure out where to go for dinner. I can hardly believe that tomorrow is our last full day in the Netherlands, but I am excited to visit the floating farm.
