Water towers, from infrastructures to landmarks

One of the oldest water towers in the United States, the Chicago Water Tower is a neo-Gothic style building resembling a stone and concrete fortress over which an imposing octagonal tower stands. The water system was dismantled in 1911 while the interior spiral staircase leading to the roof dome has been preserved. Despite being a highly recognisable landmark, the structure did not always find favour with the public: Oscar Wilde, while admiring the mechanical pumping system inside the building, regarded its appearance as “a crenellated monstrosity with pepperboxes stuck all over it”.

The two piezometric towers at Termini Station were conceived both to serve the railway infrastructure and to represent a landmark at the entrance to the city for train travellers. The rationalist architecture consists of a cylindrical volume clad in travertine, surrounded by an external staircase. The tower on Via Giolittihas been the subject of a scenographic lighting intervention aimed at enhancing it as an iconic presence in the context.

The tower, originally built with a wooden structure in the early 20th century and destroyed by bombing during World War II, was rebuilt after the war in its present form and dimensions. It consists of a 37 m high reinforced concrete cylinder, hollow internally, with a helicoidal staircase to reach the tank at the top and the roof. In 2010, the scrupulous restoration by architect Roberto Bruttini made it possible, on the one hand, to restore and consolidate the structure to fulfil its original function as a service for the municipal aqueduct and, on the other hand, to promote its role as a tourist and cultural attraction. An external steel and glass lift leads to the terrace from which there is a spectacular view of the Chianti region.

The water tower, designed by a young Jørn Utzon on the inspiration of ancient navigational tools, is characterised by a pyramidal volume supported by three slender ferroconcrete pillars that connect at the top. Access to the tank is via a central helicoidal staircase. The infrastructure has been disused since 1988, when changes were made to the water network, and has been a listed building since 1990.

A symbol of a new urbanization as many others from the same years, the structure was built to supply local homes with drinking water pumped from Loch Katrine. The Brutalist concrete volume, supported by steel pillars and accessible via the central square staircase, with its unusual parallelepiped shape rather than cylindrical (as in similar buildings) is a strongly recognisable element in the context.

At 65 m high, Union Watersphere, also known as the Union Water Tower, is considered to be the world's tallest spherical water tower. Adjacent to important vehicular routes, the iconic tower has been a visual landmark since its construction. Due to its proximity to an airport, a red strobe light was placed on top in 2008. The pedestal is used as a telecommunications tower.

The piezometric tower located near Porta Garibaldi Station was built in 1964 to supply water to the railway infrastructure. Later abandoned, the reinforced concrete construction was renovated in 1990 on the occasion of the World Cup, as part of an urban regeneration project that also included the restoration of an old railway bridge: the operation was intended to emphasise the circular, concave-shaped volume, interspersed with twenty-two raised ribs, transforming the anonymous structure into a strongly recognisable landmark. In addition to restoring the walls and ribs, consolidating, and waterproofing the surfaces, Studio Original Designers 6R5 Network's work included the cladding of the exposed concrete structure with coloured ceramic tiles in 14 shades forming twenty-two polychrome segments. In 2015, the work was restored by the same studio and inaugurated on the occasion of Expo.

Designed to supply water to an expanding ville nouvelle (new town), the imposing Brutalist building, with its unusual parallelepiped volume 33 metres high and suspended on pillars, evokes the image of a gateway to the new city. Over time, it has become a symbol of the Orléans-La Source district.

The project consists of five groups of water towers, 31 in total, distributed in different neighbourhoods to enable a widespread supply of fresh water. The constructions with their unusual 'mushroom' shape are made of reinforced concrete and are distinguished, depending on the neighbourhoods, by their number, height, colour and decoration, becoming landmarks for their respective contexts and clearly recognisable features of the city's water storage and distribution system. In 1979, three more towers of different shapes were built (Kuwait Towers), characterised by sculptural conical volumes with spherical tanks.

The 41 m high tower in Gaffney, South Carolina, located near important routes, was conceived not only as a water supply infrastructure but also as a marketing and communications tool to celebrate the local economy based on peach production. The painted steel alloy structure comprises a pedestal in the shape of a stalk on which the enormous peach-tank with its leaf, containing over 3 million litres, is grafted. The structure has appeared in the filming of episodes of the series House of Cards.

The futuristic complex is located on the edge of the residential area of Via Vigna Murata to manage the water consumption of about 400,000 people. The construction is characterised by the imposing 120 m high water tower, making it the fifth tallest building in Rome, and by the two circular reservoirs arranged at different heights. The structure is made of steel, protected with special paint and covered with stainless steel panels. The arrangement of the panels in a vertical position with marked joints makes it possible to draw the passage of time on the cylindrical surface of the tower, which acts as a sheer solar clock: the progression of the shadows on each panel of the façade corresponds to a time unit of 15 minutes.

The cyclopean concrete structure in the shape of an inverted cone that overhangs the urban landscape of the Johannesburg suburb of Midrand is a facility that holds almost 2 million gallons of water for the surrounding community. While the upper part of the building houses the reservoirs, the lower part is designed to host commercial spaces. Not an urban sculpture or land art experiment, but a visually recognisable and functionally characterised community building. 

The term "Warka" in the Ethiopian language identifies a fig tree, a symbol of fertility and generosity and at the same time a gathering place for the community. And it was with this inspiration that the water tower was conceived, made by hand and with natural materials, to meet the needs of populations in developing countries where access to drinking water is often an insurmountable logistical problem. The work was installed in a village in Ethiopia and is characterised by a 9 m high lattice structure made of triangular-mesh reed, which is easy to build even by unskilled workmen. A textile polyethylene net is housed inside the tower, capable of collecting water from dew, fog and rain of up to 100 litres per day through condensation. In addition to being a water supply system, the tower serves as the epicentre of community life in the village.

Château d'eau Ban de Gasperich, at the junction of three motorways, was designed on the one hand as an infrastructure to supply water to an expanding neighbourhood and on the other hand as a territorial landmark. The 68 m high concrete cylinder, visible even from a long distance, is the tallest water tower in the country. The cladding that surrounds the structure, made of perforated steel reminiscent of lace reinterpreted in an industrial key, gradually dematerialises upwards, creating variable perceptive effects depending on atmospheric conditions and light. The white colour of the weave symbolises the purity and preciousness of water.

In an area of intense transformation between railway tracks to the north, high-traffic roads and industrial sites in the harbour, this brutalist monolith of cast concrete, resembling a crystal of alien origin landed in the mud, intentionally catalyses attention to an expanding city district and its supporting infrastructure. The project comprises three main elements: a 20-metre diameter well covered by a steel grating that acts as an inverted siphon to receive untreated water from the surrounding neighbourhoods; the asphalt and concrete plan with outflow channels connecting the well with the treatment plant; and the building housing the tanks and pumps for water purification.