Lack of potable water is a huge global problem and the response by Italian architect Arturo Vittori from design studio Architecture and Visiontand supported by 5% Design Action - a social innovation platform established in Taiwan in 2013 - is the Warka Water prototype, which won the World Design Impact Prize.
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- Warka Water for sustainably harvesting water
Lack of potable water is a huge global problem and the response by Italian architect Arturo Vittori from design studio Architecture and Visiontand supported by 5% Design Action - a social innovation platform established in Taiwan in 2013 - is the Warka Water prototype, which won the World Design Impact Prize.
Sustainably harvesting potable water and making it available to everyone. These are the two basic issues covered by Warka Water, the prototype of the project led by Italian architect Arturo Vittori from design studio Architecture and Vision.
Warka Water is based on biomimicry, namely it exploits the system used by certain species of plants and insects in arid zones to harvest and store water from rain, fog and dew. A doable solution with simple tools that can be easily sourced locally, Warka Water was developed to meet the specific needs of isolated rural zones like the ones in northeast Ethiopia.
The initiative is supported by Taiwan-based social innovation platform 5% Design Action that is now working to improve the Warka Water prototype and adapt it to different climates and social, economic and cultural contexts, from India through to Columbia.
5% Design Action was set up in 2013 by dreamvok in Taiwan to mobilise the talents of creative designers and professionals by asking them to give just 5% of their free time to work with communities, NGOs and the like. The underlying principle is particularly to look for long-term, sustainable and effective projects.
This approach recently earned it the World Design Impact Prize (WDIP) 2015-2016 at the International Design Gala held in Tapei as part of the World Design Capital 2016, as well as the Special Award for Social Design under the Golden Pin Design Award, organised by the Golden Pin group.
The new “call for entries” of the International Golden Pin Concept Design Award (GPCDA) centred on the theme of “huaren” design for Chinese speaking world are being released right now.
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Christiane Bürklein
For more information on Warka Water, visit: http://www.warkawater.org/design.
For more information on 5% Design Action, visit: http://5percent-design-action.com/about.php.
For more information on World Design Capital Taipei 2016, visit: http://wdc2016.taipei/.
For more information on the Golden Pin Design Awards, visit: http://www.goldenpin.org.tw/en/.
Images courtesy of Warka Water
