modi di essere
Master’s Thesis 2021
Quinta Venexia
Cat. 2 [4]
“The
city of Venetians according to divine providence was founded on water and by
water surrounded and by water protected as by a wall. Whoever acts in whichever
damaging way toward the public waters will be judged an enemy of the nation and
will not have a punishment interior to those who violate the sacred walls of
the nation. May this edict have eternal validity.”
Egnazio’s Edict. 16C
Egnazio’s Edict. 16C
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Quinta Venexia
“Desponsamus te mare” [“We wed thee, Sea.”] were the Doge’s words to the sea on each Festa della Sensa [Ascension Day] centuries ago, when performing a ceremony called ‘the marriage to the sea’. City and sea always existed together. The lagoon was the defensive wall of the city, “too shallow for invading ships and too deep for marching armies”. Only the Venetians knew the secret paths of those mystic waters. This semi-natural ecosystem, which safeguarded the Venetians, was also protected by them. The Builders secured its existence by carefully controlling and changing the surroundings. Starting in the mid-15th century, for more than 300 years the principle rivers were re-routed away from the lagoon to secure its existence. Until the 20th century, when industry arrived on the shore of terraferma, opposing itself to the Most Serene. Man lost its sensibility towards his surroundings. The mutual co-existence was of no significance anymore. The greed of mankind accelerated the subsidence of the ground beneath the stones of Venice [-12cm] and catalyzed abrupt rising of the sea level [+18cm]. The Cittadini were facing one of their biggest fears – the submergence of their glorious city.
The Acqua Granda of 4. November 1966 disenchanted the illusion of man as the master of his environs. In the following 50 years, a water level above 80 cm occurred 3.164 times, 219 times above 110 cm and every 3.3 years, the sea level rose above 140 cm. The marvelous buildings started to dissolve. The enormous constructed barrier system on the three inlets could not fulfill what was once promised. Its contribution to the safety of the lagoon was questioned.
The Cittadini began to seek another solution, which would protect the city without harming the lagoon. The key was encrypted on one of the discs of the Brain. The Matrix was connected with the system of Water and Weather Monitoring Stations situated in various locations between terraferma and the thin land strip separating the shallow waters from the Adriatic Sea. A constant data circulation through the Matrix to the Brain was established. The quality of water, the bathymetry and the ecology of the lagoon were constantly monitored. A highly sensitive scanner was developed in order to analyse and secure a systematic sediment exchange between the lagoon and open sea. The Brain collected, evaluated and synced-in all the information in the data-cloud establishing a cardinal control. Every Venetian citizen had perpetual access to all the data. As their City and the Lagoon could not exist without each other, the safeguarding of this natural biotope was a duty to every resident.
When the System indicated data outside the range of Marca normale [-50 - +80 cm], the Brain activated a flood-barrier-function of the Matrix. For parts of the second a semi-virtual membrane was built. It secured a constant level of water inside the city. Even the lowest part, the Piazza di San Marco, remained waterless. The flood-barrier-function of the Matrix surrounded only the city, as a normal circulation of the water inside the lagoon was essential for its soundness. The water traffic was not interrupted when the barrier was active. Once the surface of the vehicle touched the membrane, it created a disruption following the exact shape of the object passing without undermining its solidity.
The former yellow giant called MOSE, which had to represent the salvation of Venexia, remained forever under the blue surface as a reminder, a symbol of human selfishness and the overwhelming desire for more.
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