Venice, Floating Piazza 2007

2G Competition, Venice Lagoon Park


The public space of Venice is composed of two systems (roads and canals) which intersect and multiply (bridges and piazzas.) Extraordinary conditions create deviations from type (Piazza San Marco, the Bridge of Sighs, and flooded canals that prevent boat and pedestrian passage.)

This proposal creates a new infrastructure from the catalogue of conditions already present in the city, exploring phenomena created in the most extreme of cases.

The main building takes advantage of (artificial) flooding, providing voids which can be used both wet (ferry dock, boat rentals, landing area) and dry (performance space, dry dock, exhibitions respectively) The floating structure is raised and lowered by filling its lowest floor from a reservoir on Sacca San Mattia. This filling and emptying also dries and floods the island, maintaining an ecosystem which will disappear if the large gates planned for the lagoon stop the regular tides.

Using a simple and recognizable formal language, the project is represented as an eroded mass, with the missing blocks placed strategically as pavilions throughout the city. Legibility as a series of related installations dominates the particularities of each element emphasizing the comprehensive strategy.