Permanent gives a dignified and subtly playful form to one of society’s most important infrastructure projects: providing all citizens with the conditions for a decent life through access to clean water. A simple gesture, a sculptural, undulating white shell, forms the core of the project. The facade has a clear and easily readable abstract design allowing for the citizens’ own interpretations.
The archaic form expresses permanence and reliability, while the movement of light and the play of shadows over the surface’s peaks and valleys keeps it in constant motion. In this way, the building becomes like a sundial, reflecting the passage of the day and the year. The reservoir is placed in a terraced landscape held together by winding retaining walls. The terraces formed between the walls recreate, in stylized form, the rugged landscape of the site’s higher areas, consisting of pines, blueberry bushes, and large stone blocks.
Permanent is a concrete building with a refined industrial character. The climate shell is inscribed within a circle with a diameter of 47.6 meters and is divided into 62 prefabricated concrete elements, each 2.4 meters wide and about 20 meters high. The height of the elements is sufficient to cover the underlying structure and to be visible from afar above the trees, giving the building a balanced proportion between height and width. The circular form creates a space between the cistern and the climate shell that is generous at the entrances and narrows to 1.2 meters at the narrowest passage.
Permanent is a concrete building with a refined industrial character. The climate shell is inscribed in a circle with a diameter of 47.6 meters and is divided into 62 2.4 meters wide and about 20 meters high prefabricated concrete elements. The height of the elements is sufficient to cover the underlying structure and to be visible from a distance above the trees and gives the building a balanced proportion between height and width. The circular shape creates a space between the cistern and the climate shell that is generous at the entrances and narrows to 1.2 meters at the narrowest passage.
