Taming the Leviathan: The epic of the domestication of the world and Peter Behrens’s Gibraltar Dam

Abstract

This article examines the symbolic and monumental significance of water infrastructure as an expression of humanity’s ambition to dominate nature. By exploring cases like Soviet hydrological projects and Peter Behrens’s Gibraltar Dam, it considers how water infrastructure has transcended its functional purpose, embodying the “domestication of the world” by asserting control over water, a force both essential and potentially destructive. As hallmarks of the Anthropocene, these structures represent modernity’s rationalising spirit, showcasing both technical prowess and a cultural ideology of human supremacy over natural forces. However, in the context of escalating environmental crises, this article questions whether the subjugation of water remains the only viable approach in contemporary design.