Venice

Venice CityVision Competition The symbiotic relationship between lower Venice and upper Venice is the result of an evolutionary process that has occurred over time. The proposal seeks to continue the future historiography of Venice as a natural evolutionary process, while reinterpreting the existing symbiotic behavior through connecting the lower and upper part in a more explicit language. In doing so, the city of Venice is seen analogous to that of an organism due to the rapid fluctuation of the elements that compose it. Thus, the proposal for the future vision of Venice is an evolutionary process, time-dependent and capable of evolving at a simultaneous rate with that of Venice.

Seeding Process Through the Study of Hydrodynamic Principles

While addressing the symbiotic relationship between lower and upper Venice, the proposal addresses the water pollution – and in some level, the air pollution – that exists in Venice.  Through studying the urban tissue of Venice and its pedestrian and water grids, we have chosen specific release points for the seeds. The seeding process is simulated as a swarm behavior manipulated by the turbulence and flow dynamics of the water-canals in Venice incorporating the hydrodynamic data collected from the Venice database. The simulation allows us to understand and can control where and when the seeds should be released. Furthermore, we have analyzed the density of the sedimentation process as a result of Venice’s canal patterns. Through this study, we have identified areas where the plants must grow vertically versus remaining underwater.

For areas where the plants must grow vertically, we have proposed a structural membrane that begins to grow within the already existing tissue of Venice. This membrane is capable of drawing water from the canals through a capillary process and storing water within a porous polymer. This allows the plants to grow within the tissue of Venice addressing air pollution while the plants underwater known as Phragmites, serve to clean the polluted soil. Through this seeding strategy and its simulation, we will predict the necessary steps of the sedimentation process that will occur and can intensify growth underwater or within the tissue where we see fit.

This sedimentation process introduces a third grid over time. This time-based grid will be superimposed into the existing tissue of Venice and will connect the tissue both horizontally and vertically. The grid is not seeking to inject an object; it rather looks to connect the symbiotic relationship of the lower and upper segments by means of the in-between.