WATER WAY. Eco-project for the Lambro quarries

The Water Way project, the basis of my master’s thesis at the Academy of Architecture in Mendrisio in 2023, is the result of an intense semester of design work at Nunes and Gomes da Silva’s Atelier. The project is in the agricultural “gulf” of Segrate, east of Milan. It aims to restore groundwater quarries by introducing an aquatic filter ecosystem within the existing irrigation network, thereby reactivating the site’s ecological chain. It consists of artificial basins that, through phytoremediation, can enhance the selfpurification capacity of watercourses via specific plant species typical of marsh environments. The system allows purified water to flow into the groundwater quarries, which serve as accumulation points, creating a water infrastructure that establishes continuous heterogeneous environments, including green, agricultural, and wooded areas, designed to connect the Martesana canal with the large Centroparco Segrate quarry. The latter is the core ecological node of an urban park, with the potential to create a continuous ecological network with the existing one, enhancing the area’s biodiversity and providing a recreational space for the community.