<< BACK
SYSTEMIC DESIGN:
Wetland Machines
Pontine Marshes, Latina, ITALY
Design Team
Alan Berger
FAAR '08, Director-P-REX
Associate Professor of LArch and UD-MIT
Case Brown
Senior Research Associate-P-REX
Assistant Professor of LArch-Clemson University
Previous Assistants:
Geneva Wirth
Jeff Rominger
P-REX
The site strategy is to artificially re-introduce a gigantic new wetland machine for filtering, habitat, and biological exchange. Choosing a gigantic, consolidated wetland site will likely be more viable in the complex patchwork of land ownership. Given Latinas situation, distributed treatment areas would be both enormously complex to purchase and ineffective to manage. The Wetland Machines dimensions are directly related to the amount of wetland area needed to treat the amount of water in the Canale Aque Altethe major collector for this highly polluted zone. At 220 l/s, with a load around 50+ mg/l of N, at least 2 square kilometers of treatment wetland will be required. The design retro-fits and widens existing canals to serve as flow distributors. Furthermore, soil cut/fill operations are used for terraforming shallow ridges and valleys to hold/treat water and make raised areas for new public space and program. At 2.3 sq. km., the new wetland machine will drastically improve the regional water supply and provide needed open space for recreation. At only 6 km from Latina, the site could house programs and environments almost completely lacking in the regionlarge open landscapes with diverse vegetation. Extensive edge habitat diversity or programsshallow shoals for juvenile fish and swimming, starker edges for fishing and water storage.
Copyright 2010-, P-REX / M.I.T. All rights reserved.
