The east of Milan is defined by a patchwork of large, abandoned factories, office buildings, warehouses, an airport, interrupted here and there through large stretches of agricultural land, the river Lambro and the tangenziale est. The latter meanders on its course from north to south between the existing elements of this heterogeneous tissue, sometimes it runs on the ground, other times on embankments and for extended stretches high above the ground on large concrete stilts. Underneath all this runs at a very shallow depth, as some sort of unconscious presence in all this interplay, the phreatic water, which originates in the alps.

The project consists of a series of interventions along the course of the highway between Cologne Monzese and San Donato Milanese. The single interventions are based on fundamental architectural operations such as cutting, digging or folding, and aim at reactivating existing structures and spaces as well as at introducing small new structures.

The terrain in front and inside abandoned factory buildings is cut to expose the water under its surface. New programs are introduced into the interior of the existing envelope and the envelope itself is cut in a way so that sunlight is reflected inside the building by the new surface of water in front and under it as well as the inside exposed to a view from a passing car on the highway.

In a different part the flat terrain is moved in a way to produce a hollow surrounded by a loop of an embankment dam, produced by the very same material, which has been moved. As a result, water appears in the center of the loop and a lake forms. Through the displacement a new horizon is introduced, here only the lake, the sky and some buildings along the shore are visible. Occasionally the noise of passing cars is carried by the wind above the earthwork into this new leisure space in which sun, water, wind, the vegetation and some buildings around the shore relate through an interplay of light, shadow and reflections, people take a sunbath, enjoy the freshness of the water or take a run along the shore.