Industrial water treatment

I L A Studios collaborated with Designlands Engeenering Interconsultors Advisors in the renovation of the Water Flow Regenerating Station in the river.
The general objective of the project was to transform the existing hydraulics laboratory into a living laboratory, implementing advanced biofiltration and water treatment systems for industry, commerce, researchers and citizens. The “Living Lab” is a flexible system to test the technologies needed to create a water sensitive city. It demonstrates the outstanding level of our research and demonstrates our preparation for water collection and recycling.

The project includes abundant biomass distributed in green roofs, green walls and a green facade, which makes the installation a real living laboratory. The first level of design has been the inclusion of a biostructure in the exterior building of the existing building. This new green facade acts as an attractive and iconic visual element.

There are also a series of green walls and vertical gardens, which have been integrated into the envelope of the existing building. All of them are green research walls that will allow the collection of hydroponic vegetables and the monitoring of the irrigation network, and that can be exchanged and modified to adapt to a wide range of research activities, as well as permanent green public exhibition walls. .
The project was presented by our technical team, in collaboration with a wide range of specialized engineering, and proposed a determined urban and landscape integration of the river with the cities of the valley, maintaining the identity of all existing structures and the possibilities of consolidating and strengthening that necessary and unavoidable urban “coexistence”.

The problem of the management on this river could not focus exclusively on the simplicity of two opposing options, the first the simple “landscaping” of its channel, and the second the adoption of river cover works; consistent solutions had to be adopted to preserve its nature and synergistic relationship of the river with the city.

In the case of this river these actions were subject to a new way of managing the existing reservoir network in the valley, so that, rather than considering it as a dam system, it would act as an advanced flow regulation system. Therefore, controlling the regulation of water levels, flows and quality in this valley hydraulic complex was the priority requirement of the project.
Managing the valley’s hydraulic system as an advanced hydraulic engineering device for regulation, and not as an accumulation network, has been the solution adopted to establish the optimal city-river relationship.