To improve conditions in drought-stricken California, the organizers of this year’s Land Art Generator Initiative (LAGI) recently invited artists, designers and architects to come up with innovative plans for the Santa Monica Pier that could produce energy for electricity as well as clean drinking water, while also being aesthetically pleasing. One of the finalists in the competition, the Pipe beautifully integrates all these features in a stunning, futuristic design.
Conceived by the team at Canada-based Khalili Engineers, the Pipe is a solar-powered contraption that relies on electromagnetic desalination to generate safe, drinking water for the people of the city. The resulting brine waste is then carefully filtered by means of powerful, on-board thermal baths, before making its way back to the Pacific Ocean. Speaking about the contest, co-founders Elizabeth Monoian and Rob Ferry said:
LAGI 2016 comes to Southern California at an important time. The sustainable infrastructure that is required to meet California’s development goals and growing population will have a profound influence on the landscape.
As part of the competition, the contestants were asked to submit proposals featuring either an energy or a desalination component. The solar-powered Pipe attempts to do both, producing over 10,000 MWh of power each year. This energy is in turn used to generate up to 4.5 billion liters (approx. 1.5 billion gallons) of clean, drinking water. According to the developers, the floating cylinder’s spectacular gleaming design encourages us to value this seemingly inexhaustible resource as a vital gift that needs to appreciated and preserved. Inside the structures are several saltwater-filled pools as well as an expansive deck that allows visitors to admire the ocean outside, relaxing to the gentle sound of waves. The designers added:
Above, solar panels provide power to pump seawater through an electromagnetic filtration process below the pool deck, quietly providing the salt bath with its healing water and the city with clean drinking water. The Pipe represents a change in the future of water.
As pointed out by the team, the process results in the production of two things: pure, drinkable water that is sent directly to Santa Monica’s main water piping grid and brine waste which is filtered into clean water with approximately 12-percent salinity. The latter is then returned to the ocean, via a specially-designed smart release system.
According to Monoian and Ferry, the winners of the competition will be announced at the upcoming Greenbuild Conference, on October 6 of this year.