Aqua Leni

" Adaptive water-management systems "

The Great Moss region in the Swiss Plateau is struggling an increasing water shortage in agriculture. At the same time, mudflows occur after short, heavy rainfalls, causing damages to villages, along the streams, at the foot of the Jura mountain range. The „Aqua Leni“ project addresses these two conditions, implementing water and soil as the main design tools. Through a system of retention and storage, rainwater is slowed down from the catchment areas and flows gently until it reaches the fields, where it can be used for irrigation, reducing the extreme amplitude between drought and flooding. Furthermore, the design of a functional water management system chain emphasises the value of water and addreses this force of nature in a new, celebratory, way. The limestone layers of the Jura, the moraine material from the last ice age and the stream debris cones at the foot of the slope form the three basic rock substrates that the streams came across. The nodes, which include protection, retention and storage, are located at the transitions of the geological layers. In-between the nodes, linear systems are developed, allowing the water to reach the fields in controlled quantities and at regular intervals. The interventions are constructed with earth dams, that visibly and experientially highlight the importance of the geological subsoil on the water flow.