How Venice, Italy Was Cleverly Engineered to Be Built on Top of a Muddy Swamp

Ewan Cunningham of Primal Space used clever animation to explain how ancient Roman refugees used clever engineering to build the city of Venice on top of a muddy swamp. It turns out that wooden piles compressed the mud into a solid surface, which allowed them to keep constructing homes and businesses without worrying about foundation failure. Cunningham virtually modeled how this building method and the entire city infrastructure was built out of nothing.

Discover how the Venetians transformed a muddy lagoon into a thriving metropolis with no roads, no land, and no fresh water. We’ll explore the ingenious techniques they used to build stable foundations, construct iconic canals and bridges, and develop a unique system for fresh water and waste management.

A Real-Time Demonstration of the Wooden Piles

An Italian engineer explained how the piles work in a fascinating video for the PBS series Nova in 2022.

Building a city on a lagoon has its challenges. Here’s how the citizens of Venice accomplished this task centuries ago.

via Neatorama