Briefing
A sustainable navigation Design challenge for inland waterways
Volta27 is organising 2 challenges, a Design chalenge and a Engineering (Performance based) challenge under the form of a electric boat racing competition.
This briefing concerns only the Sustainable Navigation Design challenge for Inland Waterways.
Lake Como is currently experiencing a profound socio-economic shift driven by intense tourism and capital investment. While this economic boom fuels the hospitality and luxury sectors, it strains local infrastructure, prices out permanent residents, and creates friction between community needs and visitor demands.
At the same time, the region’s economic reliance on lake traffic puts significant pressure on daily logistics, forcing working vessels—such as public transport, maintenance, fisher and delivery boats—to share occasionally congested waters with an ever-growing fleet of recreational craft and luxury watercraft. The easting boating typology and the costly transition to sustainable navigation makes the imposition of regulation towards e-Yachting a difficult political decision, despite numerous examples in other alpine Lakes like Wolfgangsee, Wörthersee, and Millstätter See in Austria who have heavily embraced electric mobility, making e-boats the standard for leisure navigation.
Ecologically, the basin faces threats from significant wave action, shoreline erosion, noise in and above water, and climate-induced water level volatility further disrupted by the management of the downward water flows to Lombardy from the dam in Lecco. The frequent churning from high-density boat traffic accelerates the degradation of historic lake walls and disrupts fragile aquatic habitats.
Addressing these challenges requires reimagining the lake's infrastructure and fleet and services through Design to improve life with and on the lake for the benefits of all as a better living ecosystem.
Navigating inland waters—such as lakes, rivers, and canals—differs fundamentally from open-sea navigation due to the extreme spatial constraints and complex, multi-user dynamics of enclosed ecosystems. Unlike the open ocean where vessels contend with vast horizons and deep-sea currents, inland environments are characterized by narrow channels, shallow drafts, tight turning radiuses, and unpredictable river flows or locks, in addition to the occasional storm that affects lakes as much as the sea. The congestion on water bodies like Lake Como is uniquely dense and heterogeneous working vessels, high-speed public transport, and heavy tourist traffic are forced to share the same limited surface area, while also respecting the life of the local residents, the rich cultural heritage of the site and its biodiversity.
This creates hazards, from shoreline-damaging wakes in narrow basins to safety conflicts between large ferries, fishing boats and working barges and small, untrained recreational watercraft, requiring a distinct design approach focused on precision maneuverability, low-impact hydrodynamics, and tight spatial coexistence.
Leveraging the region's rich industrial network and deep-rooted heritage in naval services, this Design Challenge focuses on Vessel (product) Design and Service Design.o
The Briefing proposed aims at exploring creatively the overall needs and opportunities of the life on the lake. It is less a brief that focuses on one single topic, such as a docking system for safe recharges, or achieving one trip from A to B with less than 50KWh to "crack it". The combination of both approaches - Open explorations and Focused solutions - over a series of challenges might be a topic for discussion at the end of the 2027 Challenge.
BRIEFING: NAVIGATING A GREENER TOMORROW
Honoring Alessandro Volta’s legacy by researching and prototyping sustainable, low-energy electric navigation vessels and supporting services to improve life on the lake.
Reducing their overall lifecycle footprint through design approaches that respond to the unique needs of inland waterways—such as Lake Como, a living socio-cultural and ecological system.
Participants will develop or modify vessels and supporting services by integrating Industry 5.0 principles (Navigation 5.0), proposing responsible design interventions that favor local ecosystems, recognize the interconnectedness of society and nature, and question their broader impacts.
Vessel Design
Sustainable Design or retrofit concepts for working or passenger vessels operating on inland waterways that ensure reduced supply chain and lifecycle footprint, high efficiency, reduced wake impact, noise reduction, and strong decarbonization (electric, hydrogen, wind, or hybrid configurations leveraging advanced storage).
1. Public Transport & Working Vessels
Focuses on utility, community life, logistics, and essential connectivity.
Public Transport: Large passenger motorships (battelli), high-speed commuters/hydrofoils (aliscafi), and cross-lake vehicle/passenger ferries (traghetti).
Working & Maintenance Boats: Municipal service boats, law enforcement, fisher boats, fire rescue, sanitation, waste and debris collection and shoreline maintenance vessels.
Cargo & Logistics: Commercial delivery boats, construction barges, and material transport serving lakeside towns that lack easy road access.
Water Taxis: On-demand public passenger water transit for locals and daily commuters.
2. Residents & Leisure Vessels
Focuses on resident’s life, commerce, personal enjoyment, luxury and the visitor economy.
Private & Luxury Pleasure Boats: Historic wooden runabouts (e.g., classic Riva-style watercraft), modern motorboats, and private yachting.
Tourism & Commercial Leisure: Commercial tour boats, hotel shuttle watercraft, and guided sightseeing excursions.
Self-Drive & Rental Fleet: Small recreational motorboats and sailboats rented out to tourists.
Non-Motorized & Sports Watercraft: Kayaks, SUPs, rowing boats, etc.
Services Design
1. Primary Services Operations & Physical Infrastructure
Focuses on tangible, on-site services, physical assets, and the immediate operational needs of vessels on the shore side.
Energy & Charging Infrastructure: Fast-charging stations, grid capacity upgrades, and shore-power facilities for zero-emission fleets.
Mobility Hubs & Docks: Smart docking systems, passenger terminals, multi-modal transfer points, and water taxi stands including wave breakers, meters, etc.
Maintenance & Circular Lifecycles: Specialized dry-docks, repair facilities, and eco-compatible material recycling/disposal networks for boat parts.
Sanitation & Waste Management: Graywater/blackwater pump-out stations, shore-based waste collection for vessels, and lake-debris cleanup services.
2. Secondary Services Systems & Ecosystem Governance
Focuses on digital architecture, safety, data intelligence, policy, and visitor management.
Traffic Management & Security: Smart monitoring systems, automated collision avoidance, geofencing for protected nature reserves, and emergency response coordination.
Logistical Intelligence & Digital Platforms: booking platforms, real-time demand forecasting for public transport, and shared digital logistics for commercial cargo.
Ecological Monitoring: Real-time sensors tracking water quality, sewages, underwater noise pollution, shoreline erosion risks and wave-action impacts.
Visitor Flow & Tourism Governance: Smart tourism management tools that disperse crowds, regulate peak recreational traffic, and align visitor experiences with local capacity.
Requirements
Proposed soluions should (see also judging criteria)
Embrace the Local Context: Deeply integrate the economic, cultural, and ecological realities of lake living, focusing on Lake Como. If an on-site field survey in Como is not possible, students must complete a local lake survey alongside thorough desk research on Como to ensure their design interventions fit as well the socio-cultural landscape of Como.
Pioneering Sustainable Tech: Reduce, Recycle, Redesign... minimising Life-cycle footprint, and utilize zero-emission propulsion (batteries, hybrid systems), eco-friendly material lifecycles, and inland water-specific design, honoring Alessandro Volta’s legacy of inquisitive research and electrical innovation.
Apply Navigation 5.0: Integrate Industry 5.0 principles by designing production and service models that support local actors and regenerate the regional socio-ecosystem.