On a small island in Fiji’s Yasawa archipelago, the village of Marou is lighting a path toward a new model for renewable infrastructure—one that begins not with the prepackaged solutions, but rather with community, culture, and creativity at the center of the process. In partnership with the Land Art Generator Initiative (LAGI), Marou hosted a global design competition that asked an urgent question: What if solar and water systems could be co-created with those who will live with them?
The result is LAGI 2025 Fiji, a design competition that received 205 submissions representing 45 countries. Now entering its second stage, two winning design teams will receive $100,000 each to develop working prototypes of their concepts. The winners were selected through an anonymous jury process led by the residents of Marou. The O by Alberto Roncelli and Ligavatuvuce by Young Kang are set to reshape not only Marou, but potentially remote communities around the world.
These artworks are designed to meet the village’s electricity and clean water needs while serving as vibrant public spaces rooted in cultural tradition. The prototypes will be exhibited in Suva in early 2026, after which one project will be selected for full-scale construction in Marou.
But the real story is not only about what is being built — but rather how. From the start, LAGI 2025 Fiji was co-designed with the residents of Marou, who gave shape to the design brief. They defined the needs, constraints, and aspirations of the project, informed by lived experience: worsening floods in the wet season, severe droughts in the dry season, and unreliable access to energy and potable water. Their aspirations included becoming a destination for tourists, providing opportunities through sustainable economic development, and ensuring that any new infrastructure would be something they would have the knowledge and the capacity to maintain.
“We never imagined that people from across the world would be designing with us in this way,” said Ilisari Naqau Nasau, Acting Chief (Sau Turaga) of Marou. “On behalf of myself, the elders, and the entire community of Marou, I wish to extend our deepest and most heartfelt thanks to all of the designers who participated in the LAGI 2025 Fiji competition. These solutions for energy and water systems will not only benefit us today, but will also support our future, and the futures of our children and grandchildren.”
Building on the model being developed by the Fiji Rural Electrification Fund, a United Nations Development Program initiative, the co-creation process of LAGI 2025 Fiji is challenging the conventional model of solar microgrid development that often results in failed infrastructures in remote communities who lack the ability to adequately maintain the systems over time.
Rather than enclosing technology behind fences, the projects in Marou aim to make infrastructure participatory — to turn solar and water systems into spaces of cultural gathering, celebration, and resilience.
The implications go far beyond Marou. As Fiji confronts sea level rise and increasingly extreme weather, and as the country aims for 100% renewable electricity by 2030, the lessons of this project could ripple outward. The model being tested here — of co-creation, aesthetics, and circular resource use — offers an alternative to centralised, carbon-intensive development.
In Marou, resilience looks like a solar pavilion that hosts ceremonies, a rainwater system that children can learn from, and a future where climate adaptation grows from the ground up — designed not just for people, but with them.
The two winning projects exemplify this creative approach to sharing land use with solar infrastructure, water infrastructure, and social spaces.
Shaped as a perfect circle, The O by Alberto Roncelli is a solar-powered pavilion that unites clean energy, rainwater harvesting, and cultural gathering beneath a 40-meter-wide timber canopy. Merging spatial harmony with community resilience through collaborative design, the installation generates 150 MWh of electricity and 1.2 million liters of filtered water annually while providing a flexible public space for Marou Village.
“LAGI Fiji represents a unique opportunity to explore renewable energy in a meaningful and poetic way,” said Roncelli. “I’m honored to develop this vision over the coming months and look forward to working closely with the Marou community.”
Rising from the landscape as a gesture of open palms offering yaqona (kava), Ligavatuvuce (“Hands that Offer and Uplift”) by Young Kang is a sculptural system of solar energy, rainwater harvesting, and cultural gathering. Drawing from Fijian tradition and local craftsmanship, and built collectively, the structure generates 120 MWh of electricity and provides 4.5 million liters of water annually, while creating a shaded ceremonial space that supports both community life and sustainable tourism in Marou Village.
“LAGI 2025 was an incredible opportunity to create something deeply connected with the Marou community, while advancing sustainability-focused art through concepts rooted in cultural traditions that link present and future generations,” said Kang.
With climate impacts intensifying globally, the winning projects demonstrate how renewable infrastructure can deliver clean energy and water while also serving as spaces for gathering, learning, and sustainable economic development.
“These projects establish a new model for the co-creation, implementation, and operation of renewable energy and freshwater systems,” said Elizabeth Monoian and Robert Ferry, LAGI co-founders. “Once operating, the pilot project will provide electricity and water, generate economic opportunities, and serve as a replicable model for other coastal communities across the Pacific.”
LAGI 2025 Fiji is working in coordination with the Fiji Department of Energy and the Fiji Rural Electrification Fund (FREF), supported by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). Marou Village was identified through FREF’s feasibility study with support from Arizona State University. Operations and maintenance for the final installation will be informed by the FREF program as implementation moves forward.
In the lead-up to construction, the winning and shortlisted projects will be showcased this November at an exhibition hosted by the Fiji Arts Council and the residents of Marou Village. The opening event on November 6, 2025 will launch a new publication celebrating these innovations in place-based energy and water systems.
LAGI 2025 Fiji also aligns with the Ministry of Tourism and Tourism Fiji’s sustainability agenda and is envisioned as a future national landmark—an enduring model of co-design and climate resilience.
For more information, visit https://lagi2025fiji.org. And to see more of the 205 proposals from around the world, visit the Land Art Generator Initiative Instagram feed or check out the entire LAGI 2025 Fiji portfolio of projects at https://landartgenerator.org/LAGI-2025.
