Porto Viro, IT, 2025

transformation of an abandoned house into a water filtration garden

speculative project for Haus Der Architektur

with Aala Abdolaziz, Sonya Georgieva, Dorian Zinder

If nobody wants to live there, let's turn it into something meaningful for the community. A water filtration plant, a green oasis, a place to meet.

Po Delta region is facing unprecedented droughts and at the same time rising sea water levels, leading to soil salinization. Together with our team at the HDA Research Lab in Stuttgart, we explored the transformation of one of the hundreds of abandoned houses in the area into a self-sufficient oasis designed to help mitigate these phenomena. The oasis integrates open-air constructed wetlands that filter water and enhance soil water retention with technical installations located on the ground floor of the house. The first floor has been converted into a communal space for neighborhood use—a valuable addition in a region dominated by single-family homes which in case of flooding could be also used as a shelter.