Drawing Water: The images shown here are analytical and hypothetical drawings produced by students for a seminar I led titled “Drawing Water: Inventing Hydrological Hybrids” at Syracuse University in Florence during the fall of 2018 and 2019. The images are excerpts from a book the class produced for the final semester project. The students were asked to examine Florence’s tumultuous relationship with water, particularly the catastrophic flooding of the Arno River that has occurred at various times throughout its history, from the high renaissance to the present day. The course focused on the interwoven relationship between Italian architectural history and Italian innovations in hydrological design in order to speculate on new potentials for water infrastructure in Florence, a city whose future may largely depend on its relationship to water.
The class was divided in three parts: first the students conducted research into Florence’s relationship with water, then the students surveyed and made analytical drawings of historical hydrological typologies throughout Italy, including wells, baths, cisterns, aqueducts, fountains, naumachiae, and nymphaea. Students’ research explored how certain examples of each type simultaneously achieved their infrastructural functions while also contributing to the cultural and civic life of the city and its people. Finally, students produced speculative drawings which adapted lessons learned from their preceding typological analyses and situated them into contemporary Florence.
Fall 2019
Fall 2018
