Victorious: Walking on Water : Site Conditions

Inevitably becoming the modern sequel to "Atlantis: A Lost World", Venice is undergoing a slow, but drastic, mutation because of it's unrequited (more or less) love and need for water.

"Love at first sight" is an accurate cliche to attach to my experience of Venice. Although the gondolas, the sunsets, the pigeons, caught my attention, the thing that 'got me' was the flooding, the duality of the 'Campos' and the water/pedestrian relation.

Properly titled Aqualta by Cloud Architecture Office, the flooding series initially got me interested in the idea of a 'functioning' flooded city, specifically how architecture would develop and adapt to the fluctuating context. Visiting somewhere like Venice, where aqualta renders become reality on a daily basis, was an incredibly inspiring moment for possibilities of new methods of inhabiting Venice.

Aqualta by Cloud Architecture Office:

http://bldgblog.blogspot.it/2009/11/city-and-its-flooded-double_13.html

In addition to the rising tides, the duality of the 'Campos' as being a water collection site as well as an inhabitable open spot in a city of condensed living, excited me to explore the possibilities of these qualities in a possible architecture of Venice. The historical value behind the functionality of these sites allow for present translations to become tectonic moments.

Ultimately, the equation of living in Venice attracted me the most. Pedestrian ± water = life. Water as being the main coefficient of pedestrian activity is amazing and better yet an opportunity for architecture to insert itself into daily life: Pedestrian ± (water x architecture) = life

Allora, this leads to the question: "What am I doing in Venice". I want to put the people in the water. I have the impression that there is a unspoken anxiety of the water; people try to avoid it at all cost, although they depend on it. So, my proposal is to provide anxiety therapy by refocusing on water through different lenses by introducing an architecture that enters the water and allows for pedestrians to enjoy rather than avoid . To attempt this, the architecture will be programmed as a water recreation/resource facility : a public pool in the canal, a water reclamation site, and a bridge.

Precedents:

Living in such proximity to water, I can imagine the fantasizing though of jumping in, especially in the summer. Such fantasy is similar to the one in NYC: +pool is attempting to give people the opportunity to enjoy water in new ways: