The thorough renovation of the visitor center went hand in hand with an expansion designed to complete one’s experience of the world’s largest unbroken system of intertidal sand and mud flats.

The original massing was modified in a way that would make the complex look more unified through a thatched skin; a construction technique already used in Viking times in this zone listed as a biosphere reserve.

In order to harmonize with the plant-based cladding of the addition, the old structures are lined with untreated wood, and redone inside to form ample spaces for an exhibition on marshland birds.

The Wadden Sea Centre is one of forty works shortlisted for the 2022 Mies van der Rohe Award.

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