Flat. The landscape is almost beyond flat. The shape of the coast is raised only a tiny bit and it is hard to see where the coast ends and the water begins in the great mix of flatness. If it wasn’t for the exceptional colours. From breath taking blue notes in the sky and contrast blue from the water, to golden, shiny straws with a belt of ocher reeds and then a shift over to vibrant grass green.
But this flatness of the landscape, makes the connected surroundings very fragile and exposed to changes in the water level.
The utility of the Lock of Vidå is to be able to manage being resilience to elevated water level from either the seaside called Vadehavet or the from the countryside and the river called Vidå. The management of the water level is extremely important when storms are raging and water rise.
The lock of Vidå is the biggest water lock in Denmark. Visually, it does not pretend to be anything but a lock and a monitoring house. It is built in the beginnings of 1980s. The town is Højer and the area is bordering on Tøndermarsken and with Germany at the other side. Denmark and Germany collaborate on risk managing elevated water level to ensure the resilience of the challenged area is at its most when it comes to storm flood and high-water level.
Link to Danish website: https://toender.dk/din-fritid/ud-i-naturen/det-fremskudte-dige-og-vidaslusen?language=en
Photography by Henrik Hansen
Words by Dea Simonsen