Webcam Rotterdam. Watersquare Benthemplein Square
The Netherlands often suffers from floods. This is due to objective reasons - the country is located on the sea coast, it has a flat terrain. Add to this a lot of rain. So the Netherlands is water everywhere, above and below, water all around.
The authors of the Watersquare Benthemplein project tried to solve the problem of excessive rainwater. According to them, it is possible to use public space in cities (in their particular case, a sports field and a recreation area) as a reservoir for excess water during heavy rains.
This idea is being tested in a particular location near the central train station in Rotterdam. At this location is a plaza that has recently been reconstructed. There are three swimming pools in the plaza, which can be used as excess water tanks. However, these pools actually have other uses. For example, one of them, the smaller one, has gentle sloping walls and can be used as a bicycle skate-roller drome. The largest of them serves as a sports field with terraces for spectators. The authors of the idea decided not to hide the waste water tanks and drainage systems from view. They placed drainage channels around the perimeter of the plaza and covered them with stainless steel grates.
When it rains, water from the roofs and the plaza itself fills first the smaller tanks and then the largest, the "sports" tank.
In this way, the Watersquare Benthemplein project demonstrates how useful urban infrastructure can be integrated into the urban landscape
