04

This Floating Desalination Megastructure

Competition 2016

PlantSite/ California.

California is suffering through its 5th year of severe water shortage. Aquifers and rivers continue to dry out as the water provided by melting snowpacks is reduced, and even the heavy rain brought by El Niño this year could not relieve the drought. Authorities are wary of the long-term consequences for California and neighboring areas of the Colorado River, and Santa Monica is now seeing a growing number of initiatives to control the use of potable water and find sustainable solutions.

Project Title

Shots

Foram aims to desalinate sea water while providing a structure to educate people about water shortages. It is an amphibious pavilion supported on polyethylene boxes that floats along the Santa Monica coastline. The structure swells out into three “functional pockets” where visitors can learn about access to drinking water and the process of water purification. Each of the three protruding areas hosts a distinct activity – an eatery with self-grown food, a space for learning, and another for urban farming. At the pavilion’s center, a water bar also serves freshly desalinated H₂O.

The raft is covered by an organic-shaped roof made of a conduit system that transports water from the sea to desalination tanks, and then into clean water storage tanks. Similar to the raft plan in shape, the roof is rotated to allow for the collection of sea water in the spaces between the raft's three prongs. At the low points of the roof, pumps send sea water to higher areas where it flows into the desalination tanks. These tanks also work as solar ponds, and the conduit system similarly collects solar energy to pre-heat the water for desalination. The whole structure also creates a comfortable microclimate, thanks to a cooling mist system that is integrated into certain pipes, and the natural ventilation facilitated by the roof’s chimney-like shape.