For hundreds of years, the Dutch found innovative ways to harness the land to meet the needs of their people. As seas and rivers threatened to envelope invaluable farmland, they discovered sustainable means to reclaim the land necessary for their communities to succeed and thrive.

At the 2017 Philadelphia Flower Show, Temple University landscape architecture and horticulture students are drawing upon the strength and spirit of Dutch land reclamation for their exhibit “Nieuwpolders: Regenerating the Dutch Custom of Land Recovery.”

While the Flower Show theme this year is Holland, visitors to Temple’s exhibit won’t find a single tulip as their vision takes its influence from Dutch traditions to reconnect with and restore the land.

Four primary themes comprise the Nieuwpolders 23-foot-by-33-foot exhibit, according to Kuper. Each theme is depicted in an area that reflects a different kind of reclamation: “Regenpolder” (reclaimed rain), “Groenmuurpolder” (reclaimed walls), “Droogpolder” (reclaimed pavement) and “Weidepolder” (reclaimed lawn). 

The Department of Landscape Architecture and Horticulture is part of the Division of Architecture and Environmental Design in the Tyler School of Art.