Aqualibrium

Natural disasters in cities are the result of climate change and unbalanced urban expansion. Aqualibrium is a synergy between nature and urbanism. It is as much part of the water cycle as it is public space. The project combines flood water purification and public functions in relation to water to create a unique space in between contrasting demographics.

Flooding water is captured inside a radius of 100 meters. The water enters the project inside peripheral volumes who's interior is designed to function as a slow sand filter containing consecutive chambers that clean the water in different ways. The purified water then flows into storage situated inside the central volumes. The clean water either becomes expressive in four distinct zones or becomes utilised in additional public sanitary functions. Abundant water is returned to the natural cycle by evaporation or infiltration.\nThe water garden formed as a square offers visitors a space to walk and sit in shaded cavities hollowed out of surrounding walls. Secondly, the stepwell and taps on its exterior walls form a free collection point for clean water. This availability of clean water creates an affinity between the project and the surrounding community. The most lively area, the pool, makes up the heart of the project. This shallow pool is freely accessible and surrounded by larger open spaces to easily allow more activity. Visitors are free to play, bathe or sit in the water. Lastly, the pond is an inaccessible body of water embedded in an intimate atmosphere. Here, floors transition into seatings so visitors can rest enclosed from the environment. These functions compose the project to create a unique place for visitors from any kind of demographic to enjoy.\nBesides these zones, public sanitary functions such as toilets or showers are situated in interiors created inside the surrounding volumes. Several connections to the surrounding public paths transition gradually from the ground level, immersing the visitor into the new lowered spaces of the project.\nThe duality of the project is translated into the simple materiality of earth and water. Smoothly finished materials surround the bodies of water in the heart of the project while a rough texture marks the secondary zones along the edges. Using local on-site materials and techniques like rammed earth volumes with waterproofed interiors makes it possible to construct the project locally, limiting construction costs and impact on the environment.