The role of water in sustainable architecture

Abstract

Today’s propulsive push towards the 3th millennium, driven forward by technological innovation, needs to grapple with an economic and environmental global crisis. Generally speaking water is synonymous with life; in bio-climatic architecture it is synonymous with thermal comfort, since water is able to regulate the micro-climate of various interiors, help solar radiation and brighten up internal spaces. There is more, however. In certain cases, water becomes an actual building element: thanks to the considerable power of its thermal mass, it can be used in passive solar systems (with the “drum wall” in place of stone, brick or concrete walls), through the employment of the “trombe” wall, or the “roof radiation trap”, widely theorized and tested by Baruch Givoni. It is necessary to consider the importance and the role that water plays in our lives, and reaffirm the technologies of the pre-industrial period: phito-purification, passive water-cooling, the use of permeable paving, etc.This is basically a cultural issue that concerns all operators and disciplines contributing to the definition of the building process. This note describes a series of recent interventions in which water becomes the central, symbolic and material element.