From the Lake Mead to the Tokyo Skytree: The Intelligence That Builds the World

Beyond technical expertise, the role of modern machinery, and the support of digital innovations, behind the most incredible infrastructure works lies intelligence. Not the artificial kind everyone talks about, but the human kind—tangible, made of vision, skill, creativity, and courage.

It is the kind of intelligence that becomes design, calculation, drawing, decision, and challenge. The same intelligence that builds bridges, carves underwater and undersea tunnels, brings water to deserts, and connects continents.

“To face a world in flames, architecture must harness all the intelligence that surrounds us.” This is one of the reflections that gave life to the 19th International Architecture Exhibition (10 May – 23 November) at the Venice Biennale, whose main theme is intelligence as the protagonist of a highly anticipated event of international importance: intelligence understood as human intelligence, natural intelligence and artificial intelligence.

In building colossal projects around the world, the Webuild Group—a global leader in complex infrastructure—has adopted innovative systems and techniques, born from human intelligence coupled with technical and technological capabilities.

It’s the story of what happened at Lake Mead, the largest artificial lake in the United States, fed by the Colorado River. Here, an underground tunnel was built over 200 meters deep to collect the lake’s freshwater and channel it to the city of Las Vegas via a network of pipelines.

The Intake 3 (the “straw” constructed at the lake’s bottom) was built under pressure conditions no construction site had ever faced before. A gamble won thanks to intelligence applied to engineering.

Or in Genoa, where the new Breakwater Dam is under construction. It will expand the port’s navigable basin, allowing access to the world’s largest ships. The work is taking place 50 meters below sea level.

This led to the choice of using the sophisticated saturation diving system. A barge floating on the sea hosts a hyperbaric chamber the size of an apartment, connected to the seabed by a hyperbaric bell that allows divers to reach the worksite.

Divers live for 28 days under constant pressure inside the hyperbaric chamber, breathing a helium-oxygen mix and working shifts of up to eight hours on the sea floor.

This sophisticated deep sea diving system, typically used only in extreme situations like offshore well operations, was essential in Genoa to conduct all ordnance clearance operations, enabling the start of work on what will be the deepest breakwater dam in Europe.

But the intelligence that builds doesn’t stop at the depths. In Panama, Webuild contributed to one of the most ambitious projects of our time: the construction of the New Panama Canal, a strategic hub of global trade.

Crossing Gatún Lake, essential for transiting from one ocean to another, required vast amounts of freshwater in the old canal, built in the early 20th century. To reduce this waste, Webuild engineers developed a new system called Water Saving Basins. This involved constructing auxiliary basins to recover and reuse the water used in the canal’s lock system.

This enabled a 60% reduction in water use: a ship that once required 500 million liters of water to transit now only needs about 200 million liters.

In line with the message of the 2025 Architecture Biennale, these engineering experiences show how intelligence in construction can become a tool to create complex works while respecting both the environment and humanity.

A theme that also ties to the concept of beauty—born of intelligence and a reflection of the desire to leave a legacy for future generations.

Building through beauty is the message Webuild conveys with its projects— more than 330 completed across five continents between 2012 and 2024.

This is exemplified by the eight “Art Stations” built by the Group for the Naples metro, considered among the most beautiful in the world, part of a visionary project shaped by artists, architects, and designers. Or the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center in Athens—home to the National Library and the Greek National Opera—designed by Renzo Piano and completed in 2016. Or the Abu Dhabi Mosque, twice the size of St. Peter’s Basilica—an oasis of peace inspired by Persian, Mughal, and Moorish styles, with four minarets, 82 domes, and 150 pinnacles.

Beauty, environmental stewardship, and usefulness for people are principles that guide countless infrastructure projects around the world. In Copenhagen, the CopenHill power plant burns waste to produce energy, while its rooftop hosts a ski slope, hiking trail, and recreational center—a building that unites technology, sustainability, and beauty.

Much like in Japan, where the Tokyo Skytree—a tower over 600 meters tall, the tallest building in Tokyo—is designed to withstand violent earthquakes with an independent central core that absorbs seismic energy. A technical marvel and a testament to cultural sensitivity: the entire structure is inspired by the forms of Buddhist pagodas, bridging tradition and innovation.

These works—so different in function, geography, and identity—share a common foundation: they are born of intelligence. And when intelligence meets beauty, it truly can “chart routes for the future,” as the Venice Biennale’s message says.

Because to build with intelligence means not just solving problems but also imagining better worlds.