Latitude, with CZstudio and ETC Engineering srl , just won the first prize ex-aequo at “Water is Alive, la depurazione come risorsa”, a design competition promoted by the water utility Verbano S.p.a on Lago Maggiore, North of Italy. The call looked for innovative ideas on the dismantling and recovering of two wastewater treatment plants and the up-scaling of a third one, located on the urbanized cost and valleys of the alpine lake. The need to provide prototypical solutions for similar contexts led to pay particular attention to the recurring geomorphologic conditions of the area and the human transformations which enabled a variety of water uses over time.

The proposal moves from the consciousness of how water is today often a denied territorial feature: its infrastructure is hidden and its underlying processes are “forgotten”. Nevertheless, water management has a direct impact on the urban and natural dynamics. Focusing on these processes it means to grasp the inherent potential of the infrastructure and space of water, making them real organizational structure of the territory. Through technological upgrading and water sensitive management practices, the infrastructural renovation becomes the opportunity of open the “black box” toward leisure and didactic activities, emphasizing the relationship of the wastewater plants with the territory and their role for a renewed culture of water.