Sea Lock
IJmuiden

The Sealock Complex in IJmuiden ensures a large part of the Netherlands stays dry and maintains accessibility to the main economic artery for the port and city of Amsterdam. With the expected rise in sea levels over the next 200 years, this complex will need improvement and expansion, enabling access for ships of the largest category; thereby making the new IJmuiden Sealock the biggest lock in the world. The complex is conceived of as a vast landscape in the dunes, between city and industry. This landscape contains the lock chamber and all peripheral functions to operate the lock. This forms ‘the machine’. Two 75-meter wide, 24-meter high, and 4-meter thick doors ensure the lock’s functioning. The machine is an enclosed architectural composition of large, robust elements in different grayscales. Conversely, the landscape connects the surrounding dunes and dykes and looks light and vast. As gatekeepers of the lock, the control building and the emergency operating buildings are designed as monoliths in the landscape. Inspired by the mandatory requirement of a 15% inward sloping window in the sea lock’s operating room, the entire building is positioned at an angle that leans over the passing ships.