Albula River Waterfront | Category A
The project’s achievement is the east-west axis regeneration of the final tract of Albula River, with a length over 1500 metres and variable wide of 30 metres. The proposal, in accordance with norms and objectives outlined by master plans, set out the integration between the seafront and the river promenades, now came up as an important axis of urban regeneration. It is a linear project suitable for urban river in post-industrial cities, to be intended as a sequence of tangible and intangible elements with function of protection, management and enhancement of existing contexts.
An overall mutually orthogonal walk paths system go toward the river mouth, partly on the street level and partly floating on the sea level.
On its east tract, this continuity is disrupted due to the interference of the overpasses. Therefore, the creation of a new basin realised through excavating and dredging the riverbed, permits to lower the walk promenade to the sea level, allowing its continuity as well as the seawater to enter into the hearth of the city. At the mouth, a bridge terrace and a pergola front onto the sea and the renewed dune habitat oasis. The “Fishermen’s place” – a traditional retail trade on the beach and a storage for small boats – is arranged, together with an electrical taxi-boat service to promote sustainable transport.
The passage to west is defined by a wide stepped waterfall that links the gradient between the river and the sea, a figurative reference to the natural transition from fresh to saltwater.
Finally, on the last west tract, the fluvial character is effectively restored and enhanced by focusing both on the stream revitalisation and on the water treatment.
Lorenzo Cellini |www.studiocelani.com
Riccardo Traini | www.ecoservices.it
