Water Playground
Vertico 3D printed a concrete water playground with working locks for the Lankheet Estate. The piece is a scale model of the estate's traditional irrigation system, and visitors can operate it themselves.
A scale model of historic irrigation
The Lankheet Estate has been rediscovering traditional water management techniques and using them on medieval irrigation fields. The work is part of a larger project by the Rijn en IJssel Water Board on Landgoed Lankheet, where decades-old irrigation systems have been restored.
Vertico was asked to print a work of art in concrete that shows how these methods work. Because the real system stretches across the large estate, we printed a scale model with working locks.
Visitors learn how the irrigation works by simulating it themselves, then see the full-scale system across the estate. Primary schools and enthusiasts can turn the water around and see how inventive earlier generations were.
Freedom of form through 3D concrete printing
Vertico and client Eric Brinkmann of the Lankheet Estate first planned the models at a smaller scale. Designer Iman Hadzhivalcheva then converted the drawings to CAD and to robot code.
No wooden molds were needed to cast the many meandering rivers. 3D concrete printing made the complicated shapes possible directly. Read more about this kind of design freedom in public space in our article on customizable street furniture, or see another printed play object, the sandbox bench in Delft.
Credits
- Client: Eric Brinkmann, Lankheet Estate
- Commissioning project: Rijn en IJssel Water Board
- Design, CAD and robot code: Iman Hadzhivalcheva
- 3D printing: Vertico
- With thanks to: Van Heteren, Bart-Jan Scheltens, Rouwmaat Groep
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