2007, 2G Venice Lagoon Competition (in collaboration with Joshua Gardner and Kelly Zona)
Embracing the inevitability of high tides in the Venice Lagoon, the project’s agenda is to reconsider the issue of flooding – not in terms of fear and prevention, but instead, as a catalyst for active environmental monitoring and change. This project suggests that both the Sacca San Mattia Urban Park and the Floating Lagoon Prototypes can be conceived of as part of a water filtering ecosystem. In the urban park, water infiltrates the island by means of “Reverse Deltas,” a system comprised of floating aquatic plants, gravel, and floating islands. After being channeled through a series of canals, the (cleaner) water flows back out into the Lagoon through the park’s system of “Deltas”. The Lagoon Prototypes operate in a similar way : each floating module consists of several clusters of aquatic plants bound by several “islands.” In addition, the Sacca San Mattia Island currently serves as a dumping ground for a collection of remnants from the region’s rich history of construction. Our proposal is to strategically excavate some of this material and reuse it in constructing the island’s new landscape.
