Students win public award Rijkswaterstaat
Sanne Duyve and Lian Zigterman, students of Kust- en zeemanagement (Coastal and Sea Management) at Van Hall Larenstein university, overwhelmingly won the public award 'Afsluitdijk van de toekomst' (Afsluitdijk of the Future) with their thesis 'De dijk in zijn element' (The Dike in its Element).
The competition 'Afsluitdijk van de toekomst' was an inititative of Rijkswaterstaat and CURNET and it precedes a research project by Rijkswaterstaat into potential improvements and innovations of the Afsluitdijk. The dike was completed in 1932 and now needs to be fortified to be able to deal with the climate change.
Sanne and Lian chose a 'soft solution' in the form of a salt marsh. This does not only offer security, but it also fits better into the landscape. In their design they also took into account extra sluicing capacitiy, the generation of sustainable energy and the extension of recreational possibilities. "It is a well thought-out and solid complete solution. Three cycle tracks so people can cycle alongside or on top of the dike, in or out of the wind! Why didn't we think of that before?" was the jury's praiseful verdict on 'De dijk in zijn element', Sanne and Lian's competition entry.
The public chose Sanne and Lian's entry as the best solution, they received over 500 of the 900 votes. To the students the award came unexpected. "We didn't even expect to be nominated, let alone win an award," Lian says. The expert jury awarded the duo the third prize. Lian could understand their decision quite well. "The competition was mainly focussed on technology, while we had a more socio-societal approach and put more focus on the process in itself."
On www.afsluitdijkvandetoekomst.nl (in Dutch) the video presentations of the various competition entries can be found.