Water that thinks: engineering, climate, and the future of sustainable cities

Water takes center stage, at the Biennale di Archittettura, in a new story of adaptation and innovation, presented by Fisia Italimpianti and Webuild.

The nineteenth International Architecture Exhibition, curated by Carlo Ratti, runs until November 23rd and explores the dialogue between nature and collective intelligence under the theme “Intelligens – Natural. Artificial. Collective.”. Within this context of reflection and innovation, water emerges as a symbol of the most urgent challenge: resilience. At the exhibition, water is presented as a living material. A resource, fragile yet essential, capable of measuring the gap between the world we have built and the one we must learn to imagine.

As part of the Biennale, a series of conferences focused on the main contemporary environmental and urban challenges. Among them, the session “Resilience strategies to face a climate that can’t wait” promoted a broad discussion across engineering, philosophy, and technology, with a shared message: the time for waiting is over. The climate emergency is no longer something to observe. It must be addressed through action and new tools. Engineering, in this sense, is evolving: from a discipline that reacts to problems to a science that anticipates them, thanks to monitoring and the ability to interpret signals from the environment.

The session also highlighted how Italy has historically shaped the culture of water and infrastructure, from the aqueducts of ancient Rome to today, where the country is called to renew this millennia-old tradition of constructive intelligence. The challenge now is understanding how to prepare cities, businesses, and especially cultural heritage for a climate that is no longer what it once was.

Water: the future’s challenge

This discussion is not only about scarcit, but also about excess. Today it rains too much, yet water isn’t retained enough. Intense rainfall alternates with long dry periods, resulting in an unbalanced water system that struggles to respond with flexibility. A new approach to water management is needed, smarter and circular: capable of storing, reusing, and returning water. Without this balance, there can be neither safety nor sustainability. That’s why major water infrastructures – aqueducts, dams, treatment plants – must return to the center of adaptation policies, alongside a program of continuous and predictive maintenance. This is a task that requires vision, research, and coordination, as well as the ability to bring together different fields of knowledge: engineering, digital innovation, and a renewed cultural awareness.

Engineering as a form of prevention

From water management to infrastructure maintenance, the key principle is simple: prevention. We can no longer wait for disasters to occur before acting. Today, technology, supported by artificial intelligence and continuous monitoring systems, allows us to predict risks and intervene in time. This is the new frontier of engineering: anticipating rather than repairing, understanding rather than reacting. It is time to apply accumulated knowledge to build safer, more durable infrastructure capable of adapting to a rapidly changing climate.

Canal Café: an espresso made with lagoon water

One of the most emblematic experiences at the Biennale is Canal Café, a project supported by Webuild in technical collaboration with Fisia Italimpianti, which was awarded the “Leone d’Oro” by the international jury of the 19th International Architecture Exhibition for best participation.
The idea is simple yet innovative: transform the salty, non-potable water of Venice’s canals into filtered, purified water suitable even for making coffee. At Canal Café, water from the canal is first collected and treated using a well-established reverse osmosis system. Once desalinated, it is used to brew coffee for visitors.

The process begins with the extraction of lagoon water, channeled through an “eco-machine,” a biofiltration system that removes sludge and toxins. From there, the water splits into two interdependent flows: one passes through a natural membrane bioreactor – a micro-wetland where salt-tolerant halophytes and bacteria aid purification while retaining minerals – while the other undergoes artificial filtration, reverse osmosis, and UV disinfection. The two streams are then recombined, vaporized, and passed through ground coffee to produce an espresso tailored to the water’s composition and the chosen coffee blend. The water system is constantly monitored, tested, and maintained to ensure a continuous supply of safe, clean water.

Canal Café serves as a symbol to raise awareness of the role of desalination and purification systems in transforming seawater into water suitable for human consumption and irrigation.

For this reason, Webuild supports the project with its global leadership in the water sector and desalination, through its subsidiary Fisia Italimpianti, which today provides potable water to 20 million people worldwide.

A new alliance with water

This year’s Venice Biennale reminds us that sustainability is not an abstraction but a concrete practice. Between art, engineering, and research, a common language emerges: collaboration between nature and technology.

This same philosophy guides Fisia Italimpianti and the Webuild Group in their global activities. Water is at the center of an industrial vision that integrates innovation, efficiency, and environmental protection. Projects like Canal Café, even in their symbolic dimension, illustrate a concrete vision: a future in which water is not just a resource to manage but a living matter to respect, understand, and share.