Visit to the Waterspin

Photos by Nels Nelson

Tuesday morning we went to visit the Waterspin, which is a living area in the centre of The Hague where sustainable living is promoted. We were shown around by Liesbeth and Rob who are both inhabitants of the residence. The inhabitants of the Waterspin work together on a voluntary basis in order to keep the area sustainable in its broadest sense. They don’t have their own private gardens, but instead they have a large communal garden. In this garden, water is filtered by bushes of reed making it suited for re-use (Helophyte filter). There are also fruit trees and all kinds of different plants in the garden making it a diverse and attractive area in all seasons of the year. A washing space was created for the inhabitants, this not only saves energy (as the re-usable water can be easily transported to this facility) and space (as people don’t have to have their own washing machine in their homes anymore), but it also functions as a social meeting place for the inhabitants.
The concept of the Waterspin, despite the fact that it is currently not very extraordinary anymore, seems to a large extent applicable to the area of Erasmusveld. Our visit to this living area was very interesting and inspirational for our project.
For more information on the Waterspin pay a visit to the following website: Dewaterspin.eco-ict.nl