Ecomare

In the midst of the ‘Dunes of Texel’ national park lies Ecomare, which once began as shelter for stranded seals. The seals have long been a major attraction, and about 300,000 people come annually to visit Ecomare. Not just a seal sanctuary, Ecomare has since grown to become a nature museum, aquarium, and bird sanctuary—and it has ambitions to become an international information centre for the Wadden Sea. Karres en Brands designed Ecomare’s new outdoor terrain, including the new basins for seals and porpoises.

The design is based on a clear trichotomy: square, basins, and dunes. The square can accommodate large groups of people, terraces, and places for play. An educational boulevard along the basins will be accompanied by information kiosks and life-size models of marine life, such as a humpback whale and a sperm whale. More towards the dunes lie the basins where stranded seals are kept. Visitors can thus observe the animals against the background of their natural environment. Like a natural dune landscape, the outdoor area has subtle elevation changes, ensuring that visitors always have a good view of the seals. Especially at peak times, such as feeding time, the visibility of the basins is a key component. All of the basins can therefore be seen and experienced from different points of view. Each pool has a small beach, large viewing windows along the entire length, or even a ‘fly-over’ so that visitors can watch the animals from above.

The colours that are used are inspired by the landscape and elements of Texel and the Wadden Sea: shells, sand, sea trenches, buoys, and marram grass. The pavement of the outdoor terrain is patterned after the Wadden Sea, and the silhouette of the winding wall playfully engages with the undulating lines of the dunes. The integration of the outdoor area and landscape is consistently incorporated in the design: the dunes are the natural scenery and form the border between Ecomare and the adjacent Duinpark. With this, fences could be eliminated; all transitions are smooth and self-evident. For children, a water playground has been designed that is also inspired by the Wadden. Here, in a playful manner, children can get acquainted with the tides and other elements that are typical of the Wadden Sea, such as creeks, buoys, and channel markers.

Since this successful big first step Karres en Brands is involved in smaller design tasked to keep the sanctuary up to date and guaranteeing that the seals always get the best living conditions an newest researches are communicated accordingly to the visitors.