Delta Life 11

Reinier de Graaf (1964) is a partner at the influential worldwide architec­ ture firm OMA, which was founded by Rem Koolhaas. He is responsible for the design of the iconic 'De Rotterdam' (see photo above) and 'Het Timmerhuis' in the port city. He is currently working on RAI NHow Hotel in Amsterdam. He was a co-founder of the AMO think-tank. He teaches at Cambridge University and the Harvard University Graduate School of Design and he recently published 'Four walls and a Roof, the complex nature of a simple profes- sion' , which the Dutch paper NRC Handelsblad described as one of the best books in 2018. REINIER DE GRAAF DELTARES, MARCH 2019 8 The architect believes that progress and modernisation go, by definition, hand in hand with a sort of ruthlessness with respect to what we have, and to individual interests and vested interests. Ruthless flight forward But does he think that the Dutch – who are so proud of their historical heritage – will actually pack their bags and move out to higher ground? Will they really abandon an iconic monument like the Dom Tower in Utrecht to its fate? The architect's answer is as resigned as it is unyielding: 'We need a ruthless flight forward to save the world.' That won't be straightforward: 'Our times are sentimental in the extreme. We portray wars by showing crying babies. If we save that individual, we feel good. And that allows us to ignore the fact that thousands of people are dying somewhere else. So we focus on the face of the disaster, not on the disaster itself. The same thing applies to the Dom Tower. It's an architectural masterpiece from the fourteenth century but surely you don't want it to dictate the spatial planning strategy for an entire country? We need to get things back into proportion.' In addition to his profound dislike of sentimentalism, the architect also rejects the 'kitsch side of the sustainability 'We need a ruthless flight forward to save the world' debate'. He believes that we are ignoring the political dimension. 'In essence, there is a direct political link between the fair distribution of resources and the sustainable conservation of those resources. The neoliberal model involves constraining processes. If you take another look at those processes and shake up vested interests, parties who represent those vested interests will find it difficult to contribute more than the proverbial drop in the ocean. Sustainability is been depoliticised to organise solidarity. I get that. But I see it as my job to re-establish the links between sustainability and politics, and that means making people uncomfortable.' Metro inMoscow When asked whether Deltares could play a role in the sustainability debate, he replies: 'Of course, the institute produces wonderful technological solutions. But you can't ask technology how to use technology. I think that technology is, by its very nature, agnostic and apolitical. For example, the Internet is an instrument of free will in the free world but an instrument of oppression in the hands of authoritarian regimes. You can't expect a technological organisation to formulate a political agenda. Politicians need to take the first step and ask for the technological solutions that make flexibility possible.' Does he see hopeful developments beyond our borders? Not really. 'We are leading the way. Take the Moscow Metro. It's a phenomenal system. Even so, when the communist regime collapsed, everybody rushed to get cars, with all the pollution they cause. Not infrequently, people abandon genuine progress in favour of an idea, a symbol, of progress. It would be patronising to lecture the rest of the world on this score; it's a logical development in the phases countries pass through.' Back to flexible buildings. Are they a genuine prospect? 'OMA is already making them. The Timmerhuis in Rotterdam was built as a kind of tent. You can disassemble it and rebuild it a hundred kilometres away. The nice thing is that the people of Rotterdam are open to ideas like this: the building has genuine fans. The people of Rotterdam have already rebuilt their city once. And that's a good thing: our analyses suggest that Rotterdam will be one of the first cities to be flooded.'