Culturele Woensdag - Missed

Unfortunately, I missed a cultural Wednesday because I was in Venice for the Biennale.  To make up for the lesson, I want to show you some of the amazing work I saw at the biennale.  I also did some research on Venice, particularly in reference to sustainability, rising water levels and the environment.


First for some pretty pictures:

A detailed model showing an architectural response to the environment, consideration of aspect, sunlight etc.

'Underwater scraper' - take a look at this example.  A self-sufficient city at sea - harvests its own energy and produces its own food.  Perhaps this is the way of the future? 

The Australian Pavilion - Explores current issues of sustainability, urban sprawl and density and immigration.

The Dutch Pavilion 'vacant NL'- This installation shows all the potential of inspiring, temporarily vacant buildings from the 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st centuries.  Think about the possibilities!

I loved this exhibition.  It showed old, abused, worn and torn materials  in a new context.  They become beautiful works of art rather than rubbish - all the textures, the history.  I thought this was a beautiful context, and so simple.  Lovely.

Now, Venice.


For centuries Venice has been in a struggle with mother nature.  In the 15th century the problem was a build up of silt in the lagoon from nearby rivers.  This problem was eventually solved by diverting the rivers.


The current problem is a combination of sinking foundations and rising water levels -

"The city itself is to blame. Built on soft, compactible sediments, Venice is slowly sinking under its own weight. What's more, an industrial complex across the Venetian lagoon extracted groundwater from the 1930s to the 1970s, increasing the rate at which Venice subsided. Compounding these changes, Earth's seas have been gradually swelling over the past several millennia." Against the Tide

Apparently the Adriatic Sea's standard water level is now about 6 feet higher than it was 1600 years ago when Venice was founded.  For the past few centuries Venice has had regular flooding, but its steadily getting worse - more frequent and higher water levels. Conservative estimates of greenhouse warming suggest that global sea levels will climb between 38 and 55 cm by the end of the next century.

The people of Venice have responded by building temporary walk ways during the floods.  Sometimes the water levels get so high that the boats don't even fit under the bridges.  The water levels are now also getting above the impermeable foundation stones, and the saltwater is now slowly bringing down buildings.


A proposed solution is to build a series of gates which will be raised at high tide to minimise water damage.  Some argue that this is just a temporary solution and may have a negative environmental impact - eg. aquatic life.


It seems like there are a lot of people in many different industries discussing Venice's current state.  It might be a problem many other cities will face if we don't act on global warming now.


Venice - Weighing the Solutions
Sustainable architecture featured at the Venice Biennale