Amsterdam-based architects Angelo Renna has conceived a 90-meters high artificial ‘Sponge Mountain’ in order to absorb CO2 from the atmosphere. The idea is to reuse the soil excavated from the construction of the railway tunnel of 57 km which will connect Turin to Lyon (TAV) to improve air pollution through engineered soil. Mixing sand and concrete, the man-made mountain is designed as a green landmark for the city.
Turin is one of the most polluted cities in Europe with an average annual concentration of 39 microgrammes per cubic meter. Some measures have been taken, but without great results until now. From here a visionary idea to introduce an artificial mountain within the city able to absorb pollution. It is estimated that 6 million of tons of soil will be subtracted to complete the connection between the two cities. It is an incredible amount of “waste” that can be reused in a clever way and, according to the “Success” research, quarry soil has the best capacity in sequester CO2.
Success Project is a multidisciplinary project funded by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council in which geoscientists, engineers, sustainability scientist, researchers, and ecologists have worked together looking at the importance of soil for carbon capture and how we can actually engineer or design urban soil to best capture carbon, but also to provide other ecosystem services supporting biodiversity.
