News and Events

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."

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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."

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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."
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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.

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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."

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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."
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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

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."

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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."

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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."

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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."

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XXI Architecture and Design Magazine
Public Art to Generate Green Power
August 12, 2016

"Conceived by Dalziel + Scullion, Qmulus Ltd., Yeadon Space Agency, and ZM Architecture, Wind Forest is a permanent public art installation that uses an innovative form of wind power to generate enough electricity for approximately 300 dwellings.

The project will be an important part of the new mixed-use development currently being planned for 100 Acre Hill (also known as Dundas Hill) in Glasgow, Scotland. Beyond Glasgow, the project also resonates with issues connected with the reinvention of urban brownfield sites throughout multiple global post-industrial cities. The proposal has won the LAGI (the Land Art Generator Initiative) Glasgow international design competition that challenged participants to bring creative solutions for a clean energy infrastructure to a brownfield site. Wind Forest aims to transform the post-industrial landscape of 100 Acre Hill, with an enriched infrastructure that is based on ideas around technology, landscape and context. On the site, groves of bladeless wind turbines with different spatial, sensory and environmental qualities are planned. Hence, Wind Forest mimics the activity of a forest by absorbing energy from the passing wind, and distributing it to its diverse and connected community ecosystem.

Wind Forest works with the physical landscape of 100 Acre Hill, upon which one hundred 4 kW single stem-like wind turbines will be planted. A revolution in wind energy design, these stems have no blades, have no gears or bearings, are noiseless, and do not present a hazard to birds. Instead, they generate electricity by oscillating, resulting in reduced maintenance costs, reduced manufacturing costs, reduced transportation costs, and smaller foundations."

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The “techno-boreal” Wind Forest Wins the LAGI Glasgow Competition
Jul 28, 2016
By Justine Testado

"The Land Art Generator Initiative competition proves once again that clean-energy design can be pleasing to the eyes. The LAGI competition challenges inter-disciplinary design teams to propose permanent public art installations that are equipped with the latest technological innovations in sustainable energy. Following successful competitions in Copenhagen, Dubai, and New York, the 2016 site was a new mixed-use development currently planned for Dundas Hill (or 100 Acre Hill), a post-industrial brownsite in Glasgow.

When it comes to wind energy, most people imagine rows of spinning wind turbines you'd typically find in the middle of a vast desert or a field. A team comprising of Peter Foster Richardson (ZM Architecture), Matthew Dalziel and Louise Scullion (Dalziel + Scullion), Ian Nicoll (Qmulus Ltd.), and Peter Yeadon (Yeadon Space Agency) created their own version of the wind turbine with their proposal, “Wind Forest”, which was selected as the winning commission. The other top-winning proposals were “Watergaw” and “Dundas Dandelions”."

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