Tianchen Gao, Runze Liang, Su Sun, Ling Tian

Waste is the New Water

When searching for design strategies that address the impending risks of water insecurity in a future affected by climate change, the team focused on reorganizing existing urban metabolisms and cycles.

They identified potential synergies between a transformed waste cycle and the potential for it to yield new efficiencies and economies in urban energy as well as water cycles.  The project paired a new Waste to energy system with the cultivation of new water sources, leveraging the waste treatment process to extract water from waste as well as in desalination.

The high water table, soil contamination as well as threats of regular flooding on site, informed the development of a new urban infrastructure for transporting water, energy, communications as well as providing an elevated public ground for its citizens.