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When people say they want to “get a taste” of a city while travelling, they’re usually speaking metaphorically. However, at this year’s Architecture Biennale in Venice, Italy, visitors can enjoy espresso literally made with water from the city’s famous lagoon.
Held every two years since 1980, the Architecture Biennale is a sprawling exhibition of international architecture held in locations around the iconic water-bound city. At this year’s event, a design studio and two engineering firms have built Canal Café, which uses a series of filtration tanks to purify the lagoon water before brewing and serving it to guests, A.J. Goldmann reports for The New York Times.
Water is drawn from the lagoon and split into two filtration streams using a series of transparent pipes and tanks so visitors can watch the action. The first stream uses a “microwetland” of salt-tolerant plants, which filter the water biologically while retaining its mineral content; the second uses reverse osmosis and ultraviolet light to disinfect the water. At the end, the two streams are blended together.
The cafe is meant to provoke visitors to contemplate a future where clean water is precious. “We could say that the project is a prototype of the global dilemmas we face in a time of increased climate change when our infrastructures must adapt,” Biennale director Carlo Ratti told Goldmann. “It’s visceral — to drink or not to drink — and will provoke people to confront the issue that is literally right in front of them.”
The filtration being visible is essential, according to Elizabeth Diller of Diller Scofidio + Renfro, the firm that came up with the design. The cafe aims to combine “the sort of pleasure of drinking beautiful espresso while also thinking about the complexity that it takes to actually have potable water,” Diller said.
Read the full story from the New York Times here.
