Re-flooding the Broads
Jack Taylor
Part 1 Project 2020
Jack Taylor
University of Greenwich | UK
“If rainforests are the lungs of the planet, then wetlands are the lifeblood. As much as we need air to breathe, we need water to live.” – Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust
Due to the artificial draining of areas of marshlands on low-lying floodplains, vast biodiversity is being lost, as the marshlands act as a breeding ground for many types of species of animals and insects. Much of these plants and species require the periodical flooding of the land to maintain the natural habitat.
The architecture of the project aims to act as a softer engineering alternative flood defences which often starve areas further downstream of water.
Architecture and its systems work in a preventative and management way, rather than a reactive measure. Existing as a barometer, poised in a fragile landscape.
Channels divert water across the landscape that would be otherwise destructive, followed by the deployment of ‘seed-bombs’ -clay, seeds and duckweed lashings, which slowly erodes in the flood water. Carried to the newly created springs, they repopulate the surrounding areas with native plants, creating natural breeding grounds, encouraging wildlife to return, increasing the biodiversity once, again, whilst mitigating the risk of floods.
