Water is the oil of the 21st century.

In the 21st century, water will determine new land-use for growing populations, regional political alliances, and alternative energy production. Desalinization is one important aspect of the future of water; it is already a critical social concern, particularly in arid regions. Desalinization has long been a heavy industrial undertaking, involving huge mechanical apparatuses run on fossil fuels. Recently, a re-examination of existing seawater greenhouse technologies has revealed possibilities for large scale, sustainable desalination using deep seawater and warm sea breeze in an evaporation-condensation loop.

Freshwater Plaza is a spatialization of an innovative, low-tech water desalinization process, and part of the larger sustainability initiative of Abu Dhabi. The goal is to reveal new technologies but not for the sake of the image of technology. The project is instead focused on generating technological ambience. The divisions between technology and culture-- and building technology and architecture-- begin to dissolve into a hybrid spatial sensibility. Fluid flows, structural patterning, ornament, and lighting all combine into a coherent whole, generating an unexpectedly vivid and lively atmosphere. The space will generate public consciousness of the looming water crisis as well as offer a glimpse of how biological, integrative thinking may offer productive solutions to this global problem.

The project is a large, partially inhabitable roof landscape characterized by two performative pattern logics. The first is a three dimensional meshwork of capillaries within which cold seawater (from a local deep source) is circulated. The second is a series of air intakes which direct warm sea air over the capillaries. Seawater is sprayed into this warm air as it enters, increasing its water content. The glass roof creates additional heat in the interior space, allowing the air to take on even more airborn moisture. Then, when this super-humidified air comes into contact with the chilled pipes, it condenses. The condensate-- free of salt-- drips down the capillaries into pleated troughs below, which lead to underground storage tanks. The chilled pipes are organized in such a way that they operate structurally, so the construction can ultimately be understood as a structural heat-exchanger.

The hydronic and structural processes will be legible, but in an ambient, atmospheric way. The aim is not the creation of a ‘mechanical cathedral’, a la Structural Expressionism, but rather the creation of public space defined by crossovers of technology, culture, and sensation.