The New York based documentary production company Kontentreal produces a series of documentaries called e² design. e² design broadcasted on the American public TV channel PBS. The Economies of Being Environmentally conscious is an original HD multipart series that explores the living vitality of the environment.
Eight different topics – from sustainable architecture to water culture to alternative energy to organic farming, recycled clothing and more – are each presented in six thirty-minute episodes, challenging us to live smarter, live greener and live with the future in mind. Design E2 is narrated by Brad Pitt.
For episode 5 of seasons 2 e² design visits the Netherlands for an episode about sustainable architecture and solving suburban sprawl. Dutch planners tap into their innate design sensibility and the industrial landscape to create a sustainable development in Amsterdam’s abandoned dockyards. Offering an alternative to the trappings of suburban sprawl, the development maximizes space while maintaining privacy, and uses the vast waterways as core landscape design elements.
In the Amsterdam docklands two neighbourhoods called Borneo and Sporenburg are taken as examples. Drawing upon Dutch architectural heritage, West 8’s plan for Borneo Sporenburg was inspired by villages on the former Zuiderzee (now the Ijsselmeer inner lake, closed off by a dyke), where small, intimate houses descend towards the water.
More than 100 architects participated; developing new housing prototypes and the resulting designs include patios, roof gardens and striking views of the waterfront. The Borneo Sporenburg approach is especially interesting for it’s very dense luxurious housing near to the city centre. An important alternative for the classical and so widely spread American suburbia concept.
For the filming in the Netherlands for this documentary series Featurez gave advice, did research, booked a camera assistant, a soundman, organised extra grip gear, a magliner, redid the planning, booked a rental car, did the driving and accompanied the filming.
An excerpt of this episode of the documentary series is published on the Featurez.com video page.