Water

SaltyCo

The fashion and textile industries are notorious for their excessive use of freshwater across many manufacturing processes. In an attempt to tackle the problem, London-based start-up SaltyCo is developing a range of sustainable fabrics made using seawater-grown plants.

However, according to the start-up, the water used to produce a single cotton sock equates to three years’ worth of drinking water for one person.

Working with saline farmers, SaltyCo has identified a salt-tolerant plant (currently undisclosed) that can be irrigated using seawater. The plants are then processed into fibres, which are suitable for woven, non-woven and insulation materials.

Flat Waterproof roof by Brasil Arquitetura

Currently, the civil construction industry has developed more sophisticated products and techniques that drastically reduce the chances of subsequent infiltration. However, we could say that waterproof flat slabs continue to be fragile points in buildings. The architects from Brasil Arquitetura have improved an inventive and very simple solution to avoid infiltrations in flat slabs, much used in the 70's by architects like Paulo Mendes da Rocha and Ruy Ohtake, filling them with vegetation.

Carpa Olivera by Colectivo Urbano

Proposing to recycle, clean and return this pool fed by tidal water to it´s splendor, and integrate a new playful element: a spiral slide that dramatically promotes the social reactivation for local and tourist, where children and families have fun. This element acts as a strong singular sculpture by the sea.

The Blur Building, Swiss Expo 2002

The Blur Building is an architecture of atmosphere—a fog mass resulting from natural and manmade forces. Water is pumped from Lake Neuchâtel, filtered, and shot as a fine mist through 35,000 high-pressure nozzles. A smart weather system reads the shifting climatic conditions of temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction and regulates water pressure at a variety of zones. Upon entering Blur, visual and acoustic references are erased. There is only an optical “white-out” and the “white-noise” of pulsing nozzles.