Our rivers and seas are drowning in chemicals, waste, plastic, and other pollutants. Skien high school is located between two bodies of water. Students tested the water for micro-plastics and found high levels. In February 2019, our project organized student labs and a mini-seminar with public institutions to discuss the relationship between soil, plants, water and pollution on site. Consultants Urban Space Lab, Rambøll, Efferus, and White architects sketched designs for a wetland, stormwater filters and other ideas for the property.
Future water labs: Students have started drawing solutions for cleaning polluted water: terrain sculpting, permaculture, fruit forest, edible rain beds and wetlands. We will explore emerging ideas in water labs in 2021 with our group of teachers, landscape architects, artists and researchers.