Photo by Katia McGuirk
On February 3rd and 4th, 2017, LAGI was in Philadelphia to give a talk at Temple and facilitate a design workshop with the Village of Arts and Humanities in North Philadelphia.
Read more about the events on our blog: Imagining Solar Art at the Village of Arts and Humanities Philadelphia.
Issues in Science and Technology
Winter 2017 Edition: The Energy Transition
"Unlocking Clean Energy"
By Varun Sivaram
LAGI 2016 submissions for Santa Monica are featured on the cover and inside of the Winter 2017 edition of Issues in Science and Technology.
Powering Places
Land Art Generator Initiative
Santa Monica
Editors: Elizabeth Monoian and Robert Ferry
Designer: Paul Schifino, Schifino Design
Hardcover: 240 pages
Publisher: Prestel 2016
Language: English
ISBN-10: 3791355503
ISBN-13: 978-3791355504
Visit the historic Santa Monica Pier at low tide and near the horizon you’ll see the eroded remnants of a nearly century-old breakwater seawall peeking up through the waves. Once a protective barrier for a long-lost marina, it’s now the site of the fourth Land Art Generator Initiative design competition.
The Land Art Generator Initiative implements the design and construction of new landmarks of civic art for the twenty-first century that give back to communities by providing clean and renewable infrastructure solutions, while educating and inspiring people about the beauty of our postcarbon future. LAGI Santa Monica invited creatives around the world to imagine regenerative artworks that harvest millions of liters of drinking water and enough electricity to power thousands of homes in Southern California.
Following insightful essays on ecological art, spatial justice, and the history of power and water in Southern California, sixty-six of the LAGI Santa Monica competition entries are profiled in this book through detailed spreads that include renderings, illustrations, and diagrams. The result is an astounding sampling of innovative and artistic solutions that employ the latest wave, tidal, wind, solar, and water-harvesting technologies, and that have resonance for coastal cities around the world.
Essays by:
Patricia Watts
Glen Lowry
Barry Lehrman
James Harris
Robert Ferry and Elizabeth Monoian
Foreword by:
Craig Watson
Introduction by:
Shannon Daut
LAGI Glasgow Exhibition
Innovation Centre, University of Exeter
January 16 – April 28, 2017
An exhibition of LAGI’s collaborations with ecoartscotland and other organisations will be shown at the Innovation Centre, University of Exeter from 16 January to 28 April.
November 2016
Multi-disciplinary sustainable energy initiative wins CIWEM Arts, Water and the Environment Award
The 2016 award is presented to ecoartscotland and The Land Art Generator Initiative (LAGI) collaboration in recognition of their outstanding contribution to the field of environmental arts, including the LAGI Glasgow Design Competition.
The judging panel were particularly impressed by the practical orientation and ambitious scope of the initiative, which directly engages with management of the environment. They praised the multi-disciplinary structure of the collaboration, bringing together science, art, design and engineering expertise to tackle the transition to renewable energy in response to climate change, one of our biggest global environmental challenges. The open sharing of ideas and experience which is facilitated by the project will undoubtedly lead to an ultimate impact beyond the scope of the project alone.
The Nick Reeves AWEinspiring Award is presented annually by CIWEM's Arts and the Environment Network in association with the Centre for Contemporary Art and the Natural World (CCANW). The award celebrates projects or practitioners who have contributed innovatively to CIWEM's vision of "putting creativity at the heart of environmental policy and action".
The 2016 judging panel consisted of representatives from CIWEM's Arts and the Environment Network and CCANW. Special Commendations were also awarded to Tania Kovats for her exhibition ‘Evaporation’ and Chris Watson for his work as a musician, documentarist, communicator and sonic artist.
Dave Pritchard, Chair of CIWEM’s Arts and Environment Network, said: “The quality of nominations for this year’s Award was wonderful. LAGI and ecoartscotland’s work is a superb example of our belief that arts-based approaches offer massive potential for more intelligent ways of responding to environmental challenges”.
Clive Adams, Director of CCANW, said: “Such new forms of collaboration across disciplines are increasingly needed if we are to reach a more harmonious relationship with the rest of nature”.
Directors of The Land Art Generator Initiative, Elizabeth Monoian and Robert Ferry said:
"LAGI Glasgow shows how every development can approach early stages of master planning by recognising the natural energy resources that exist within the site (most commonly in the form of sun, wind, and ground/water source heat) and translating them creatively into features that can offset or reduce the need for externalised energy sources, all the while celebrating these climate solutions by making them attractive and engaging places for people."
ecoartscotland said:
“We are delighted to share the Nick Reeves Award with The Land Art Generator Initiative for the LAGI Glasgow project. This is the art and environment award in the UK and highlights the important partnership we’ve formed aimed at stimulating more interdisciplinary and practical projects between artists, designers, architects and planners working with renewables both at the community and industry levels. Having the national recognition of CIWEM and CCANW is incredibly positive and will be appreciated by our partners – Glasgow City Council, Scottish Canals and igloo Regeneration.”
PROGRSS
Glasgow and the Art of Clean Energy
By Dalia Awad
November 2016
"Once a hub for heavy industry, the site known as Dundas Hill in Port Dundas, less than two miles from Glasgow city centre, still retains hallmarks of a manufacturing neighborhood. While the canals and locks surrounding the area are rarely used today, the architecture of a bygone age remains prominent – warehouses, factories and defunct chimneys dot the landscape, severed from the rest of the city by M8 motorway. However, behind these fading facades, a new breed of eager Glaswegian makers are breathing life back into the area, building upon its heritage.
Inside the Whisky Bond – a co-working space established on the site of a former distillery – artists and makers can take advantage of 3D printers and CNC machines to create their craft, while digital agencies and graphic designers rent offices in the upper floors. Up the road, at the Glue Factory, independent artists and performers showcase their latest creations in another former industrial site. Currently empty spaces surrounding the north Canal and Speirs Wharf are in negotiation to be redeveloped as student housing and, on an unassuming brownfield site, where another former whisky distillery once lay, Glasgow is soon to be home to the Wind Forest – a public art project comprised of 100 stem-like structures which are in fact bladeless wind turbines.
The winning design of a year-long competition by Land Art Generator Initiative’s (LAGI) Glasgow chapter, in collaboration with EcoArtsScotland, the Wind Forest will be implemented as part of the Glasgow Canal Regeneration Partnership – a private-public-partnership designed to revitalize the area within which Dundas Hill falls, and largely the catalyst behind the larger area’s recent resurgence as a creative hub.Founded in 2010, LAGI’s main aim is to inspire clean energy generation through aesthetically pleasing installations, proving that art and engineering professionals can not only coexist, but co-create innovatively.
“Art is a way to confront ecological problems,” says LAGI co-founder Robert Ferry, stating that he and his founding partner were inspired by American land art and how infrastructure can . “Science has always been grappling with a communication problem. Art in public spaces can solve that. It lets people run into ideas they weren’t planning to think about.”"
World Landscape Architect
LAGI 2016 design ideas competition announces winning teams
October 2016
"Every two years, the Land Art Generator Initiative international design competition provides an opportunity for creative minds around the world to reflect on the nature of energy infrastructures and what they can aspire to be in their built form. How can they integrate themselves into our cities in ways that enhance public space, educate, and inspire?
LAGI 2016 invited artists, designers, scientists, engineers, and others from around the world to submit proposals for large-scale and site-specific public art installations that generate carbon-neutral electricity and/or drinking water for the City of Santa Monica, California.
The LAGI 2016 design ideas competition, Powering Places, brought forward hundreds of proposals for civic artworks at the breakwater adjacent to the Santa Monica Pier to generate carbon-free electricity and water for hundreds of homes.
The 2016 design site offered participating teams the opportunity to utilize wave and tidal energies as well as wind, solar, and other renewable energy technologies."
Anthropocene
Art That Delivers Clean Water & Power
An international competition challenges designers to show that clean energy production and dazzling public art can be one and the same
Photo Essay
October 2016
"Since 2010, the Land Art Generator Initiative (LAGI) has sponsored site-specific design competitions, soliciting ideas for public art that generates clean power. Its 2016 contest was the most ambitious yet. It called on designers to conceive of art installations that generate both clean power and water for the city of Santa Monica, California.
“Now, more than ever, energy and water are intertwined,” notes the organization. “As California faces severe water shortages in the coming years, the amount of energy required for water production and transmission is sure to increase.”
The contest’s coastal setting allowed designers to harness not only solar and wind power, but also wave and tidal energy. Its proximity to the Santa Monica Urban Runoff Recycling Facility provided the opportunity for integration with existing city infrastructure. Further, note the contest organizers, “we can challenge those who would disapprove of these important infrastructures on aesthetic grounds, especially at sites that are cherished for their cultural value and identity (like the Santa Monica Pier Breakwater).”
Here we present highlights from the competition. Learn more about the contest and the entries here and in Powering Places: Land Art Generator Initiative, Santa Monica."
Business Insider
A set of ghostly, futuristic sails could help save California from drought
October 6, 2016
By Dana Varinsky
"Sails are one of the earliest ways humans seized the power of wind — people were using them to move boats across the sea even before the Middle Ages.
A new design aims to apply that ancient technology to modern environmental challenges.
Regatta H2O: Familiar Form, Chameleon Infrastructure is the winner of a site-specific environmental competition called the Land Art Generator Initiative. The design proposes to repurpose the iconic maritime shape to harvest clean water in addition to wind.
Regatta H2O — which was named the first place winner on October 6 — features a set of 44 sails made of a high-tech fog-harvesting mesh material. The sails would stand alone in the ocean (no boats necessary), where air is moist and fog is common. Veins in the sails' surfaces would serve as moisture collection troughs, funneling the collected water to a central mast, which would in turn pump the liquid to a set of storage vessels on the shore."
GOOD
These Stunning Designs Have An Earth-Friendly Secret
October 6, 2016
by Yumi Abe
"California has a serious water problem. In 2016, the state marked the fifth consecutive year of severe drought. Though the headlines have faded, the issue has not, and one group is putting it on full artistic display.
Land Art Generator Initiative, an organization dedicated to spark conversation, inspire, and educate the public through design, held its biennial ideas competition in Santa Monica, California, on October 6. The designs, submitted by artists from all over the word, must consist of a three-dimensional sculptural form that stimulates the viewer, generates clean energy and/or drinking water, and demonstrates a pragmatic approach. Designs— not to exceed 80 meters in height—must adhere to the constraints of the location plan and site boundary, must be safe for audiences to view, and must not create greenhouse emissions or pollution."
Read More >
Yale Environment 360
Public Art or Renewable Energy? New Designs Aim to Produce Both
By Diane Toomey
October 5, 2016
As cities look to incorporate sustainable technologies into their infrastructure, a design competition is challenging artists and architects to create artwork that can both generate renewable energy and enlighten the public on environmental issues.
Land Art Generator Initiative Santa Monica winners address California’s energy needs and drought
by Lacy Cooke
October 5, 2016
The Land Art Generator Initiative (LAGI) has announced the winners for the 2016 Santa Monica competition. Drawing on technologies from fog harvesting to wave energy and transparent solar cells, the proposed installations would generate either renewable energy or drinking water for drought-stricken California. These "civic artworks" would be located "at the breakwater adjacent to the Santa Monica Pier" and are designed to inspire and educate the public on clean energy, the environment, and water issues.
If you're in Southern California, tune in to 89.3 FM at 10 a.m. on October 6 to hear LAGI Directors, Elizabeth Monoian and Robert Ferry, talk about the LAGI 2016 winners on Take Two with co-host Alex Cohen.
Smithsonian
These Wild Sculptures Actually Generate Green Energy
By Emily Matchar
October 5, 2016
Regatta H2O, as the sculpture is called, is the winner of a contest sponsored by The Land Art Generator Initiative (LAGI), an organization whose goal is to “accelerate the transition to post-carbon economies by providing models of renewable energy infrastructure that add value to public space, inspire, and educate.” Since 2010, they’ve been hosting a biannual contest for artists to create public art that’s beautiful and generates green energy. Previous years have seen the contest in places like Dubai and Copenhagen; this year’s was held in Santa Monica, California, a part of the world deeply affected by climate change-driven drought.
Elizabeth Monoian and Robert Ferry, LAGI’s founders, say Regatta H2O, from Tokyo-based designers Christopher Sjoberg and Ryo Saito, stood out above the pack for using the “specific contextual features” of its Santa Monica Bay site in its design.
“By addressing the challenge of water infrastructure and recognizing that water and energy are inextricably intertwined, especially in California, the proposal has the potential to serve as a beautiful and consistent reminder of water's importance to Santa Monica residents and visitors,” they say, in a statement written to Smithsonian. “The artwork is also ephemeral. It almost seems to disappear when the conditions are not right for fog harvesting. As a consequence, the artwork does not compete with the natural beauty of the bay and could be a welcome addition to such an historic and cherished landscape.”
Garden Culture
Aeroponic Farm & Desalination Plant Combo
By Amber
September 10, 2016
"Romanian architect Alexandru Predenu aims to supply fresh water and locally grown food to Santa Monica with an exciting new aeroponic farm and seawater desalination plant combination. Yes, there’s an abundance of fresh food available in California, the warm climate is perfect for year around crops. However, most of it is grown using water-hungry conventional farming methods. Obviously, in a drought-stricken state with a naturally dry climate, major changes are needed. Especially when agriculture is responsible for 80% of the water usage. The Ring Garden offers some interesting solutions.
A finalist of the 2016 Land Art Generator Initiative competition, Predenu’s design marries sustainable food production with a renewable source of drinking water for the City of Santa Monica. But it’s bigger than that. The aeroponic farm produces food for humans, farm animals, and it’s own energy… simultaneously. All of the structure’s functions run on solar power through photovoltaic panel collection, and energy created in algae bioreactors. It also harvests CO2."
Curbed Los Angeles
Fanciful power plants envisioned off the Santa Monica PierCompetition turns energy sources into public art
By Jeff Wattenhofer
Sept. 23, 2016
"If we told you a power plant was being built off the coast of Santa Monica, mere yards from the Santa Monica Pier, you'd think Santa Monica leaders had lost their minds. But what if that power plant was also designed as a public art piece?
That’s the goal of the 2016 Land Art Generator Initiative, says the Santa Monica Lookout. The competition not only puts a focus on creating new forms of sustainable energy, it also challenges designers to add some artistry to the normally drab and foreboding appearance of power plants."
Read More >
Mysterious Giant Orb and Other Renewable Energy Projects Proposed off Santa Monica Pier
The Lookout
by Niki Cervantes
September 21, 2016
Inhabitat features the latest LAGI information graphic: Surface Area Required to Power California with Zero Carbon Emissions and 100% Renewable Energy
Brilliant graphic shows surface area required to power California with 100% renewables
by Tafline Laylin
September 22, 2016
Oil Price
Can Solar-Powered Floating Art Save California From Drought?
September 19, 2016
by Tsvetana Paraskova
Business Insider
This Solar-Powered Pipe Desalinates The Water That Flows Through It
By Dana Varinsky
September 15, 2016
The article includes more information from an interview with Aziz Khalili, one of the engineers on the design team along with Puya Kalili, Laleh Javaheri, Iman Khalili, and Kathy Kiany (Khalili Engineers).
Please join us for the 2016 Land Art Generator Initiative Design Competition Award Ceremony!
Awards Presented by Eric Corey Freed
10:30 a.m. October 6th
Booth 2051
Los Angeles Convention Center
At Greenbuild 2016
For the duration of the expo days, an exhibition of the entire LAGI 2016 shortlist will be on display in the EXPO HALL (October 5–6).
Thanks to the LA chapter of the US Green Building Council!
Join us at the Annenberg Community Beach House in Santa Monica for the LAGI 2016 exhibition.
Opening reception for the LAGI 2016 Santa Monica Exhibition
Tuesday, October 4th at 6:00 PM at the Annenberg Community Beach House
*Please RSVP by registering for FREE at the Eventbrite Page.
The event will include a roundtable discussion about our future energy and water infrastructures. The panel will including Dean Kubani (Santa Monica's Chief Sustainability Officer), Rebecca Ehemann (the founder of Green Public Art), Barry Lehrman (Cal Poly Pomina Asst. Professor of Landscape Architecture), and the LAGI directors, Elizabeth Monoian and Robert Ferry.
Seeker
Art Makes Clean Water and Energy
September 9, 2016
By Glenn McDonald
"The Land Art Generator Initiative is one of our favorite things. A bi-annual design competition, LAGI encourages the construction of public art installations that also feed clean energy into the local utility grid. Previous competitions have been held in Dubai, Copenhagen and New York City.
Inspired by the California drought crisis, this year's competition in Santa Monica asked designers to incorporate a new twist — installations that also produce clean drinking water. When art meets science, interesting things always happen. Here we look at ten proposals from the 2016 LAGI competition."
SXSW Eco
Land Art Generator Initiative 2016:
Powering Places
Exhibition
Monday, October 10 – Wednesday, October 12
9:00AM - 6:00PM
Austin Convention Center
531 E 4th St
"Take a walk through the beautiful landscapes of our post-carbon future at the Powering Places exhibition at SXSW Eco and discover how design responses to climate change can also make our cities more vibrant and wonderful places to live. The 2016 Land Art Generator Initiative design competition (LAGI 2016) is the fourth iteration of the biennial event that challenges creatives around the world to conceive of site-specific works of civic art that use renewable energy technologies as their medium, providing electricity and water to thousands of homes, while engaging and inspiring people."
Grist
Salty Talk
By Heather Smith
September 8, 2016
"Making seawater drinkable has never looked so sexy."
September 2016
We were thrilled to have the opportunity to sit on a panel with Glen Lowry and Chris Fremantle at the Petrocultures conference in St. John's Newfoundland.
Learn more about the conference here.
From the Petrocultures website:
Approximately a third of all oil and gas production takes place offshore, and this proportion is continually increasing as companies push into ever deeper and more remote locations. Oil is sought and extracted from the Arctic Ocean to the South China Sea, from Bass Strait to the Niger Delta. In addition, oil is a key commodity of seaborne trade. According to recent UN Conference on Trade and Development statistics, nearly three billion metric tons of crude oil, gas, and petroleum products are shipped annually worldwide.
Despite the fact our economies and lifestyles depend so heavily on the oil industry, much of the work and infrastructure associated with it, to say nothing of the deposits themselves, are situated out of plain sight. This relative invisibility makes the cultural imaginaries of oil, particularly deepwater offshore oil, highly powerful. Petrocultures 2016 will provide an important forum for examining such figurations, including how they relate to framings of alternative forms of energy, such as wind and tidal power.
Newfoundland and Labrador is an excellent location from which to contemplate petrocultural matters. The Canadian province is highly dependent on its offshore oil industry, and prone to the ongoing social and economic instability that typically accompanies such reliance. Given Newfoundland and Labrador’s North Atlantic geographic and geological contexts, there are also especially illuminating parallels to be drawn between its experience and that of other offshore oil-producing places in the region, such as Ireland, Scotland, and Norway.
Petrocultures 2016 will bring together scholars, policy-makers, industry employees, artists, and public advocacy groups from across North America and beyond. Confirmed Keynote Speakers include: Barbara Neis (Memorial University); Helge Ryggvik (University of Oslo); Graeme MacDonald (University of Warwick); and, Elizabeth Nyman (University of Louisiana at Lafayette).
Fast Company
This Solar-Powered Pipe Desalinates The Water That Flows Through It
By Adele Peters
September 2, 2016
"In a design for the Land Art Generator Initiative, a competition that calls for new energy infrastructure that looks like art, the engineers mocked up what the plant could look like off the coast of Santa Monica. The designers plan to build a prototype and prove that their technology is actually effective at desalination."
Mother Nature Network
Sun-powered desalination device transforms seawater into clean drinking water
By Matt Hickman
August 31, 2016
"You never know what kind of bold, bizarre and humanity-benefitting concepts the Land Art Generator Initiative (LAGI) will yield.
After all, the LAGI is the force behind a biannual design competition — motto: “Renewable Energy Can Be Beautiful” — that in 2014 introduced the world to Energy Duck, a semi-terrifying, solar panel-clad bird-monster roughly the size of a tugboat.
Like in years past, LAGI 2016 aims to solicit "human-centered solutions" that marry site-specific public art with sustainable energy infrastructure. Bringing together the creative and scientific communities, LAGI fosters boundary-pushing Franken-projects that function as objects of beauty and awe while simultaneously providing cities with a source of clean energy."
Architectural Digest
Can This Giant Orb in the Pacific Provide California with Drinkable Water?
By Leslie Anne Wiggins
September 1, 2016
"Santa Monica, California, is the 2016 site for the Land Art Generator Initiative, a global sustainable design event now in its fourth year. Because of the state’s ongoing drought, the current competition required that proposals include a plan for drinking water production. The winners won’t be announced until next month, but one of the standout entries is from a South Korean team who designed a 131-foot-diameter glass sphere that would sit out in the Pacific, beyond the iconic Santa Monica Pier."
The Guardian
Fantasy art: the future of energy and water technology
Alison Moodie
September 3, 2016
"They look like designs from the pages of a futurist’s notepad, but the concepts below are all finalists in the biennial public art contest held by the Land Art Generator Initiative (LAGI). These ideas illustrate the possibility of marrying aesthetics with renewable energy and water technology and educate the public about the challenges of addressing climate change and feeding a growing population."
The Inertia
Solar Powered Desalinization Plant Could Be The Answer to California’s Drought Disaster
By Alexander Haro
August 28, 2016
"It’s no secret that California is in the middle of a long, severe drought. It’s been five years now, and things aren’t looking like they’re going to get much better. Back in January of 2014, Governor Brown declared a state of emergency and rolled out a bunch of water-saving plans that everyone promptly pretended they were going use, then forgot all about and went back to watering their lawns. As recently as May of this year, he issued an order to continue saving water, but no one could hear him because they were inside the car wash. But despite the fact that lawns are still green and cars are still shiny in Southern California, the drought is a very real problem.
After a massive El Niño veered north and failed to drop as much rain in Southern California as expected, forecasters predicted that La Niña would show up this winter, compounding the problem. El Niño’s little sister, you see, generally means a much drier winter than normal–which is not what Southern California’s parched, cracking earth needs. But a Canadian Engineering firm might’ve come up with a beautiful solution: a desalinization plant unlike any other. Simply called “The Pipe,” it’s a solar-powered design that is capable of making over a billion gallons of fresh water from the sea."
designboom
clear orb sculpture provides energy and drinkable water for the city of santa monica
August 29, 2016
By Nina Azzarello
"For the 2016 land art generator initiative, a team of designers from south korea has conceived ‘clear orb’ as a proposal for sustainable infrastructure in santa monica, california. the 40-meter diameter glass sphere produces fresh water from the sea, and provides energy to the city’s electrical grid.
laesik lim, ahyoung lee, jaeyeol kim, and taegu lim have designed ‘clear orb’ to appear as if it is floating on the surface of the ocean. while a translucent glass upper half refracts impressions of the surrounding landscape, the lower hemisphere’s reflective, mirror-like surface glitters in the sunlight. the installation is accessible from the santa monica pier, where a pathway subtly slopes below the surface of the water. the exterior walls of this ‘contemplation walk’ act as a wave power generator installed along the existing breakwater. the path’s interior walls are lined with a list of extinct animals, offering an opportunity to contemplate how humans might better co-exist with nature."
Real Clear Life
Solar-Powered Ring Garden Concept Produces Drinking Water and Crops
August 29, 2016
"California may have found an ally in its struggle to preserve its water supply: the Ring Garden.
Designed by Alexandru Predonu, the Ring Garden is a rotating desalination plant and aeroponics farm that harvests seawater, solar energy, and carbon dioxide to produce clean drinking water, food crops, and biomass for animal feed. Predonu’s design was a finalist in this year’s “Land Art Generator Initiative: Santa Monica” competition, and his visually striking concept might be exactly what California needs to curb its water use; as of this writing, 80 percent of the state’s water supply goes towards agriculture."
Architectural Digest
Is This Solar-Powered Structure the Answer to California’s Water Crisis?
By Carrie Hojnicki
August 29, 2016
"California has a host of serious issues, ranging from budget deficits to earthquakes. Yet among the more critical concerns is the state’s ever-growing water crisis. Chief among those responding to this dilemma is the Land Art Generator Initiative, whose motto says it all: “Renewable energy can be beautiful.” The Initiative hosts a biannual competition, this year focusing on harnessing clean energy to ameliorate Southern California’s drought plight. Though the winners of the 2016 competition will not be announced until October, one design is already making waves: Khalili Engineers’ The Pipe, an elegant and low-impact means of harnessing the Pacific Ocean into safe drinking water."
Read More >
designboom
solar-powered 'pipe' sculpture generates 4.5 billion liters of drinkable water from the ocean
August 25, 2016
By Nina Azzarello
"this massive solar powered pipe proposed for the 2016 land art generator initiative by khalili engineers intends to desalinate seawater into drinkable fluid. the concept — a blend of artistic, technological and architectural properties — floats off the coast of santa monica, california ‘reminding us about our dependence on water and about our need to appreciate and value this vital gift,’ the engineers describe."
Inhabitat
Giant gleaming Orb deploys solar and wave energy to make clean water for California
August 26, 2016
By Tafline Laylin
""The sustainable architectural culture that aspires the coexistence of human, nature and the architecture itself" is a core value of Heerim Architects and Planners in South Korea, the team behind a sparkling orb designed for Santa Monica Pier. A finalist in the biennial site-specific 2016 Land Art Generator Initiative design competition, which promotes the uptake of energy-generating public art that informs, delights, and uplifts communities and visitors, The Clear Orb reveals a playful approach to holistic design. Using transparent luminescent solar concentrators, the installation is purportedly capable of producing up to half-a-million gallons of fresh water each year for California."
Inhabitat
Solar-powered Ring Garden marries desalination and agriculture for drought-stricken California
August 25, 2016
by Tafline Laylin
"With roughly 80 percent of California’s already-scarce water supply going to agriculture, it’s crucial for the state to embrace new technologies that shrink the amount of water required to grow food. Alexandru Predonu has designed an elegant solution that uses solar energy to power a rotating desalination plant and farm that not only produces clean drinking water for the city of Santa Monica, but also food crops – including algae. A finalist of this year’s Land Art Generator Initiative competition, a site-specific biennial design competition that has inspired world-renowned designs like The Pipe and Energy Duck, Ring Garden is capable of churning out 16 million gallons of clean water, 40,000 pounds of aeroponic crops, and 11,000 pounds of spirulina biomass for livestock feed."
The Independent
The solar-powered sculpture that could desalinate 1.5 billion gallons of drinking water for California
August 24, 2016
By Tim Walker
"Is it public art, or is it a power station? This shimmering design for “The Pipe”, a finalist in the 2016 Land Art Generator Initiative (LAGI), is intended to blur the lines between the two. Imagined here as a floating installation off the coast of Santa Monica, California, the Pipe is an electromagnetic desalination device, powered by the sun. It also looks great on the horizon."
Read More >
Inhabitat
Solar-powered Pipe desalinizes 1.5 billion gallons of drinking water for California
August 23, 2016
By Tafline Laylin
"The infrastructure California needs to generate energy for electricity and clean water need not blight the landscape. The Pipe is one example of how producing energy can be knitted into every day life in a healthy, aesthetically-pleasing way. One of the finalists of the 2016 Land Art Generator Initiative design competition for Santa Monica Pier, the design deploys electromagnetic desalination to provide clean drinking water for the city and filters the resulting brine through on-board thermal baths before it is reintroduced to the Pacific Ocean."
Read More >
