GSD Alumni and Friends
Eric Olsen, MArch '01, wins 2008 MetropolisNext Generation® Design Prize; Robyn Perkins, MLA '08, named a runner up.
San Francisco Bay Area architect and professor at the California College of Arts, Eric Olsen, MArch '01, has been chosen as this year's winner of the prestigious Metropolis Next Generation® Design Prize. Robyn Perkins, MLA '08, was a runner up for the prize.
Olsen and Perkins were honored by the architecture and design community at a gala awards celebration on May 2 in San Francisco where Olsen was presented with the $10,000 Next Generation prize for his innovative design of an easy-to-carry device for transporting and purifying water.
Olsen's design is a Solar Water Disinfecting Tarpaulin, a flexible, adaptable vessel that can be easily filled with water and carried home, where it works to make the water potable. The pleated tarpaulin-constructed from laser-cut, clear, low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and dark rubberized nylon-is designed to hold up to 20 liters of water and can be rolled into a bundle or worn as a shawl-like kanga for carrying. It can be laid across a rooftop, spread on the ground or hung vertically to allow ultraviolet radiation from the sun to disinfect the water inside. This World Health Organization–approved purification method takes only five hours in hot climates. The tarpaulin is designed for use in a wide variety of settings, from urban disaster sites to remote third-world villages. Nine additional Next Generation proposals were also honored as runners-up at the awards event.
"This year's winner and the very noteworthy runners-up once again confirm our belief in young designers' ability to address complex social, cultural, and environmental issues with enthusiasm and a high level of creativity," said Metropolis publisher Horace Havemeyer III. "I'm also proud of them for submitting clear-headed business plans," adds Havemeyer, noting that the "competition is unique among design competitions in that it asks for entrants to submit a business plan."
Perkins designed an innovative water supply system that addresses one of the major challenges to a sustainable future for Mumbai, India: distribution, control, and protection of the water supply for the densest urban center in the world. By harvesting rainwater and using modern techniques combined with successful Indian models for water consumption, the project mitigates flooding and facilitates water use that can be managed by an individual, by a public housing block, or on a district level. During the monsoons, which flood much of the city, the new system channels water through the ground story of a housing block and then to an underground system where it travels to a large, slow-sand filtration tank with sinks on an outdoor deck for use by residents. Water from the roof is filtered for drinking and is stored at ground level.
“It is clear to us that the next generation of designers cares deeply about our natural resources,” says Metropolis editor in chief Susan S. Szenasy. “Their inventive proposals were focused on water-an endangered resource worldwide-and serve to create a dialogue around a crucial topic. Designers, they're saying, have useful answers to offer a thirsty world.”
The judges for the 2008 Next Generation Design Competition were Lance Hosey, director at William McDonough + Partners; Eric Chan, president of ECCO Design Inc.; Fiona Cousins, principal and mechanical engineer at Arup; and Pam Light, senior vice president at HOK. Szenasy moderated the deliberations.
Created by Metropolis magazine, the annual Next Generation Design Competition, now in its fifth year, recognizes outstanding ideas from young architects and designers for making our built environment better, safer, and more sustainable. This year, entrants were asked to submit proposals relating to water. The May 2008 issue of Metropolis featured the event.
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Photos: Courtesy Robyn Perkins
Photos: Courtesy Eric Olsen