Albula CC

Sapienza University of Rome

Project idea

Albula
Open source device for polluted waters

Albula is an interactive urban device that addresses the pollution crisis of the Tiber and its degradation. The project proposal considers the YAP MAXXI 2016 as opportunity to foster a wider operation of reconnection between Rome and its river, promoting a social and political action to trigger processes of urban and environmental regeneration.
The installation takes the name “Albula”, first Tiber name, that, according to the Latin poet Festus, derives from the adjective Albus, “ white-water river”.
Nowadays, among the twenty major Italian rivers, Tiber is the only one characterized by long stretches with very poor quality water (around 10% - ARPA Lazio data). The pollution due to urban waste and to neglect, risk jeopardizing the fate of the river, historically considered the main resource of the city.
The project proposes a suspended integrated system of phytoremediation, that fulfills meeting, cooling and shading requests. The result is a captivating and playful structure designed with a demonstrative intent to contribute to the re-appropriation of the river flowing so close to the urban flows generated by MAXXI.
The civic and ecological river significance acts as a symbolic catalyst, with repercussions in the urban and social level. To ensure that Rome is not the last of the big cities that falls back in love with its river.

Project description

Reverse ecology

The symbiotic relationship between Rome and the Tiber has continued over the centuries. Until the seventies, Roman bathers spent their summer Sundays along the grassy river banks, as told by Dino Risi in the movie “Poveri ma belli”, among diving, swimming and great feasts. Even today, brave divers perform the good luck rite to dive in the cold waters of the river to celebrate the beginning of the new year.

The installation is both urban space and metaphor of the water mills that populated the river in the past, recalling a forgotten popular imagination.
As in the ancient scenery of the river, the mill generated energy using the river flow, here in the MAXXI square, Albula, regulated by a “reverse ecology”, will exploit the human flow, to purify Tiber water and to return it to the city.

People have the fundamental role of system activators: living the square means therefore to activate the phytoremediation process.
Here is a man, he passes through the square, the sensor detects him and the wheel starts spinning. From here, the water, initially polluted, passes sack by sack, as filter by filter, to be then poured into the pool.

The proposal is a systemic solution, which aims to explore the possibility of turning public space into a network of relationships and information, making visible the intangible connections between nature, space and person.
The interaction between the man and the phytoremediation system is ensured by Arduino, a low-cost programmable electronic board able to interact with the environment in which is located, receiving information from a variety of sensors.
The body position is detected by four Ping (ultrasonic proximity sensors) connected via the card to an electric motor that, once the input is received, actuates the wheel triggering the falling water flow inside the first two groups of sacks and feeding the remaining ones by gravity with overfill openings.
The sensors transform then the square into a sensitive space that lends itself to multiple fruitions and responds to the stress of those that pass through it. This urban interaction demonstrates as a renewed ecological awareness is an opportunity to reactivate a symbiotic relationship between the Tiber and Rome.

Urban space under Albula and eco-friendly device in the upper part. The result is an experience that involves the man in a series of simultaneous processes, activated by the plant system and by the water cycle. A new urban landscape that changes in relation to the passing of the hours, to changing climatic conditions and at the crossing of the MAXXI flows.

The installation fits longitudinally in the square, wedged under the cantilever of the museum facade. The stage is facing Via Guido Reni to avoid noise nuisance and to allow better use of public space during events.

Follow-up
In the last decades, many world capitals have greatly enhanced the relationship with their river. In these cases important measures of environmental control and for depollution been adopted.
From this point of view, Albula is proposed as device that reactivates a symbiosis between the river and the city, catalyzing social energies and helping to reduce pollution of waterways.
The project proposal foresees several alternatives for the follow-up of the project at the end of the YAP.
On the basis of the cooperation with the DAFNE (Department of Science and Technology for Agriculture, Forestry, Nature and Energy) of the University of Tuscia, the first hypothesis evaluates the opportunity to continue the research and the experimentation. The idea is to draw up a proposal for scientific research with which to participate to LIFE +, funding programs promoted by the European Union to support projects on environmental issues and climate change. The objective is the validation at the urban and territorial scale, creating a more extensive network of partners.
A second hypothesis is to really install Albula on the Tiber as in the meta-project or in other urban areas, like those cities near to rivers or lakes and in areas where water pollution is a critical issue. Just think of many Italian and international cities such as Istanbul, New York, Seoul, Berlin, Madrid, Copenhagen and many others.
The modularity of the installation allows to prolong its life cycle, providing further possible uses also for the individual components of the project.
Each module designed as a plug-in, can be used in different places and for different objectives: in schools and universities for educational purposes, but also in museums and public places.
The design strategy takes into account the re-use of the various elements that make up the installation, reducing the additional costs and disposal.

Technical information

Phytoremediation
The depuration process of Albula is the phytoremediation, a natural system that, without chemical reagents, exploits the ability of self-purification of aquatic environments, using specific plants. These plants are the Macrophytes: they promote development and growth of microorganisms which make possible the purification of water.
The whole phytremediation system is contained inside transparent PVC sacks, arranged in four rows, eleven sacks per row: these sacks constitute the coverage of Albula, which ensure also the shading of the public space below.
Each sack is designed as a micro-ecosystem of different size, in which the plants behave as natural pumps: the foliage transpires water absorbing pathogens, chemicals and heavy metals that Macrophytes are able to absorb.
All the sacks contain an equal amount of water (150 liters) and a kit including: a floating island for the specific plant species, aggregates with variable granulometry and organic absorbent natural materials. The table shows the characteristics of the selected purifying plant essences, in relation to the pollutants that emerged from the analysis of the Tiber river (ARPA Lazio data, 2015).
Phytoextraction plants particularly effective for reducing pollutants, are placed in the first part of the system. Instead, the last sacks contain bio-indicator plants: chromatic changes of this plants inform about the actual performance of purification.
In this configuration, the installation manages a total of 10,000 liters of water, purifying 2,000 liters collected directly from the Roman river and poured in the first three rows of sacks.
The system with low environmental impact is easy and cheap both in the initial phase and during the operation. Furthermore it does not require the constant presence of specialized personnel for maintenance and control.
The clean water obtained at the end of the phytoremediation cycle can be used for human use in accordance with D.Lgs. February 2, 2001, n. 31, according to the European Directive 98/83 / EC which guarantees healthiness and purity.febbraio

Structure and components
The installation is composed by four elements: a platform/raft, a T shaped metal structure -to which the phytoremediation sacks are hooked- the waterwheel and the collecting tank.
The platform (21.5 x 10 mt) is conceived as a large raft with a height of 50 cm, in order to contain the technical installations and the compartment containing the body of water; it is covered with wood panels for formworks (2x0.5 meters), fitted dry.
With an area of over 150 sqm, the raft houses: 50 sqm for the stage for events, 36 sqm for the experiential space in the central part, below the sacks, which the user interacts with the phytoremediation process. The remaining area consists of the connective space and of the two access ramps (width: 1.5 meters).
The body of water (WHD: 7x7,50x0.40 mt) has the dual purpose of collecting tank (25 cubic meters of water) and pool for summer cooling.
The entire structure is made with multidirectional scaffolding, assembled modular elements (size 50-150 cm) and it is rented for the occasion, so ensuring a reuse cycle the material. It is an economical and efficient system that allows a high loading capacity and a fast assembly / disassembly.
The coverage plate follows a module of 1,50 x 1,50x1,50 mt and it is located at a height of 3 meters from the floor, reaching 6 meters of total height. The structure is dimensioned in such a way that each module is capable of supporting a load of 3 kN (around 300kg).
The iron wheel (diameter 8 mt) is constituted by 5 rays and 40 steel rods. A truks hub ensures 1 rotation per minute by adjusting the flow of the hydraulic system, which maintains constant the amount of water both in the sacks and in the collection tank. In the thickness of the profile, 24 paddles are contained: they ensure a flow rate of 2 liters per minute. When the wheel is active, Albula is in dynamic state, the water comes into the sacks oxygenating the system and triggering the phytoremediation cycle. If the wheel stops operating, the system settles down independently.


Open process
Albula is the contact point where architecture and scientific research converge, a transparent and ecological system, the result of a collaborative and interdisciplinary process which involved experts and researchers in agronomy, microbiology, botany and electronics.
The idea that moves the project, is to offer an open, accessible and implementable solution, designed to deal with the pollution crisis of the waters of rivers and lakes, renewing a systemic link between the city and the territory.
The entire installation is an open source project, designed as a scalable model that can be reproduced in a different context. It is distributed under Creative Commons license BY-NC-SA 3.0, along with the script which regulates the functioning of the Arduino electronic board and of the proximity sensors.
All this is in line with the open culture, characterized by an inclusive approach to the design, by the use of collaborative design software and by the transparent operation of buildings and cities during their life cycle.
The installation, now in the public domain, will be implemented with new technological systems and new materials, an indispensable step in the evolutionary process of Albula.


Schedule
Albula is the contact point where architecture and scientific research converge, a transparent and ecological system, the result of a collaborative and interdisciplinary process which involved experts and researchers in agronomy, microbiology, botany and electronics.
The idea that moves the project, is to offer an open, accessible and implementable solution, designed to deal with the pollution crisis of the waters of rivers and lakes, renewing a systemic link between the city and the territory.
The entire installation is an open source project, designed as a scalable model that can be reproduced in a different context. It is distributed under Creative Commons license BY-NC-SA 3.0, along with the script which regulates the functioning of the Arduino electronic board and of the proximity sensors.
All this is in line with the open culture, characterized by an inclusive approach to the design, by the use of collaborative design software and by the transparent operation of buildings and cities during their life cycle.
The installation, now in the public domain, will be implemented with new technological systems and new materials, an indispensable step in the evolutionary process of Albula.

Co-authors

_Designers: Deltastudio - arch. Pompei Dario, arch. Galeone Valerio, arch. Massaro Saverio, Ronciglione (VT)
_Water monitoring: Dr. Angiolo Martinelli - Regional agency for Environmental Protection of Lazio Region (ARPA)
_Structure: Pilosio S.p.A. (Udine, UD)
_Phytodepuration system: Davide La Salvia - Water Nursery (Latina, LT)
_Wheel and Interaction design: Attilio Mandola - The Fab Hub (Sapri, SA)
_Microbiology: prof. Elena Di Mattia - Department of Science and Technologies for Agricolture, Forests, Nature and Energy (DAFNE) at University of Tuscia
_Model: Pasquale Loiudice (Roma, RM)
_PVC sacks and prototype: Maurizio Moretti - Artenda (Ronciglione, VT)