SEE LAB - garden

SEE LAB - GARDEN

Follow us into the transformational journey of turning an old, tiled schoolyard into a cohabitational area for art and nature.

See Lab is aware of the climate changes our society is facing and what problems they entail; global warming and more extreme weather conditions. Climate change will cause extreme heat and drought, alternated with excessive rainfall. This will make high demands on the urban environment. Research shows metropolitan areas in comparison to neighbouring land surfaces are much warmer. Oud Scheveningen, the urban neighbourhood in which See Lab’s located is right in the middle of a 'heat island'.

Which is caused by the excessive amount of pavement and a lack of vegetation in the area. We hope to somewhat alter this state by taking out ~3000 tiles of our large paved courtyard, and replace them by healthy soil and plants. In the coming months, or even years, we will transform this tiled backyard into a lush garden where art and nature can both thrive in blissful symbiosis. A connecting place for local residents and artists with city veggies and fruit farming where sculptures by contemporary artists can be admired. See Lab aims to build this garden in collaboration with experts in in botany, ecology and hydrology.

More info: See Lab - Garden instagram

Blossom

The cherrytree we adopted from one of our neighbours seems to be enjoying it's new spot.

Spring snow

Homo ludens

Our garden is covered under a thick layer of snow. Time to experiment with this beautiful material!! Jorick and Esmee started building an igloo.

Winter has come

Our garden is covered under a thick layer of snow. Time to experiment with this beautiful material!! Jorick started building an igloo.

Ice

Frozen rainwater well

Snow bricks

Snow bricks piled up higher and higher

Igloo from above

Getting ready to build the roof

Realisation rainwater buffer pond

It the past month’s Remco Jongejan (studio Lotec) realised a rainwater pond/rainwater buffer with sloping, planted green banks, a little bridge across it and a water pump system that runs on a solar panel.

See Lab's Rainwater harvesting

Rainwater from the See Lab building roof is collected and stored in a reservoir in our garden. A small wind turbine generates energy to pump the water up from the reservoir to irrigate the plants of our garden in times of drought. Our water management system is powered by wind energy and entirely self-sufficient. It is designed and engineered by studio Lotec of Remco Jongejan and will be expanded in capacity in the upcoming year.

"Another fall, another turned page..." - W.S.

Feeling grateful to see the result of the invested amount of hard work, sweat love and and energy that made our tiled garden come to life. Now autumn is slowly crawling its way in…

Abundance of flowers

Fox Glove

glimpse of our lush garden in progress

Abundance of flowers

California poppy

Installing nesting boxes

Creating habitats and nesting spaces for the endangered house sparrow

Jorick installing nesting boxes

Creating habitats and nesting spaces for the endangered house sparrow

Cabbage butterfly

City fruit farming

First delicious cherries from the tree Awinash Panchu donated

City veggies

First tomatoes

Spring

Beautiful awakening of plants

Rhubarb

Our first city veggies

Curved paths

Created by taken out tiles

Willowbranches

This wind barrier also functions as a shelter for birds and insects

Dome

Prototyping/building a geodesic dome greenhouse

Our goals and benefits of building this garden:

Creating a green cohabitational area for art and nature in Scheveningen

Contribute to a better air quality - our plants and trees filter pollutants and dust from the air
Contribute to decreasing the urban heat island effect

Provide opportunities for relaxation, social contact and recreation, and increases health and well-being by opening our garden at public events
Helping to intercept the water runoff and providing water retention
Promote biodiversity by providing habitats for flora and fauna

Creating habitats and food sources for (endangered) insects, birds and small animals (for example the House Sparrow)

Our resources:

A team of about 10 to 15 handy "See Labbers" who are eager to make this transformation happen, together with our driven head of the garden committee, Jorick de Quaasteniet.
Collection of compost in the form of leaves and green waste.

photos: Anke van den Berg