3D concrete-printed water playground installed beside a stream

Project / 18 · Applied Research · Parametric Design

Water Playground

Printing waterways into an interactive, educational landscape.

Water Playground

A 3D concrete-printed scale model demonstrating the effectiveness of innovative irrigation methods. Visitors explore how these systems work through interactive simulations, turning the model into an educational experience.

Year
2021
Partners
Vertico, Lankheet Estate
Role
Computational Designer, Robotic Toolpath Development
Location
Landgoed Het Lankheet
The concrete waterways integrated into the wetland landscape at Lankheet Estate
The installed concrete model with winding waterways, locks and stepped terrain
Digital topography model showing the water playground's channels at stepped height levels

Printing Waterways

Decades-old irrigation systems across the estate were mapped to a human size to demonstrate the ingenuity and effectiveness of traditional water-management methods. To make these techniques accessible to visitors, a 3D-printed scale model with functional locks invites primary school groups and other visitors to explore how water is directed across the landscape and actively operate the system themselves.

The project fully used the geometric freedom offered by 3D printing and achieved the various height levels with meticulous robot path planning.

Primary school students gathered around the model during a water-management demonstration
A visitor operating a removable gate to redirect water through the concrete channels
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