Isolotto Weir: Ephemerality on the Arno Riverbank | Florence, Italy | Unit 21 | 2023

Driven by pneumatics and powered by the Arno, Isolotto Weir is reimagined as part of a riverside piazza that morphs and transforms as it responds to flows of pressure. Inspired by Florence’s festive culture and the event-architecture of its post-war radical architecture movement, this metamorphic piazza of fluidity and motion contrasts with the historic forms of a city stuck in its past.

Built within the Cascine Park at the end of Florence’s mile long pop-up market, Isolotto Weir is programmed with a host of event functions that emerge from the riverbank, nestled within a landscape that similarly changes its form in accordance with the activities within.

The Arno River Bank
The riverbank is excavated to create the alternate channel that diverts the weir, where river flow is converted to hydroelectric power. As part of this excavation, channels are created within which sit floating building elements that rise and fall.

Pneumatic Skeletal Structure
Extracting sub-surfaces of inflatable forms to use as both holding and guide panels. When ‘deactivated’, this skeletal support structure suggests the form of the inflated volume.

Pneumatic Architecture
Experimenting with digital physics simulations to design pneumatic architectural elements. In this experiment, sub-surfaces were selected to iteratively inflate the object.

Market Hall
Nestled within the cobbled landscape, the market hall floats within its own water channel compartment, where water from the river is diverted to lift the structure as a flood defence mechanism and as a performative transformation of the building.