What do we need to start from scratch – to start being human again?

WATERSCHOOL, a self-initiated design and research project of Studio Makkink & Bey, looks into the possibilities of founding a holistic school revolving around water as an essential material, subject, and socio-economic and political phenomenon — where education and curriculum are entirely rethought.

WATERSCHOOL’s site-based research and a ‘learning by doing’ approach focuses on Rotterdam’s Merwe-Vierhavens (M4H) harbour district. Operating as a test site, WATERSCHOOL shows a speculative landscape where the 6,300 residents implement the regenerative use of raw materials and resources, allowing for balanced cohabitation between all local organisms, communities, and environment. Together with selected Rotterdam-based designers, architects, artists, and a WATERSCHOOL library, the exhibition, supported by Stichting Droom en Daad, contributes to a sustainable, circular and regenerative learning environment in order to meet our looming ecological challenges. In WATERSCHOOL’s Garden of Delight, human presence is not immediately perceptible. It is a place where the fundamental elements composing the human body and our essential resources simultaneously become valuable nutritional sources, building materials and filtering agents. The garden, a humble starting point, grows into a new type of household, fostering completely new ways of living.