'A Beat of Water' by BIG launches in Milan with Roca

‘A Beat of Water’ by Roca and BIG

(Image credit: Paolo Riolzi)

published 9 April 2025

The power and richness of one of Earth's most important elements are celebrated in 'A Beat of Water', a site-specific installation designed by BIG - Bjarke Ingels Group and created with bathroom product specialist Roca. Set in Milan's Università Statale for the duration of Milan Design Week 2025, the piece captures water's mesmerising quality and immersive nature while raising awareness for its consumption and management.

'A Beat of Water': capturing one of Earth's most precious resources

The exhibit is a flowing, visually arresting, 14m-long and 3.5-high structure. Made of a total of 300m of galvanised steel pipes, this is an installation that plays with all the senses; featuring the continuous circulation of water, it invites visitors to sit and be embraced by the element's dynamic movement, vibration, steady rhythm and soft, calming sounds.

It also brings the 'back of house' to the fore, explains BIG founder Bjarke Ingels. '[When I started working on it] I thought, let's make something unexpected – a pavilion out of plumbing. It is about the hidden beauty of the everyday.'

The water used in the design travels in a closed-loop system, so there is no wastage – which also highlights the need for sustainable treatment of the precious resource. At the heart of the concept lies Roca Connect, Roca’s cloud-based smart water management system, showcasing how design and innovation can meet, merging contemporary flair, state-of-the-art technology and sustainable architecture.

Ingels continues to explain how the project resonates within the architecture firm's approach around hedonistic sustainability: 'This idea that the sustainable city or the sustainable building or the sustainable product is not only better for the environment, it can also be more enjoyable. And I think another aspect is what we call social infrastructure, like another oxymoron, that the kind of back-of-house projects, like a parking structure, can be fun. In this kind of project, like with this one here, an early adoption of new technology is really important.'

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Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018), Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020) and House London (2022).