GROHE awards winner of International Water Research
GROHE, a leading global brand for integrated bathroom solutions and kitchen taps and BCFA member, presented the award to the winner of the International Water Research Prize in Amsterdam at the World Architecture Festival (WAF).
On behalf of her students, Belen Desmaison, teaching fellow of the Pontificia Catholic University of Peru (PCUP), received the prize money of £10,000, sponsored by WAF founder partner GROHE. The presentation of the prize, which was awarded for the first time, took place at the three-day festival’s kick-off.
The aim is to better understand where we can assist architects in their work. GROHE and WAF awarded the prize to a small-community water management system in the Amazon Rainforest. The area has the world’s highest precipitation rate per year, yet just under a third of its population has access to water.
“We aim to use this opportunity to work on the production of a rainwater storage system made using local materials and knowledge that can be easily integrated with traditional architectural typologies.” – Belen Desmaison.
The PCUP team has developed a solution that collects, stores and processes rainwater using pipes. The project won against twelve competitors. The finalists on the competition’s shortlist were selected out of a total of 60 submissions.
The Water Research Prize, which GROHE and WAF use to support the PCUP team’s existing research, is based on the WAF Manifesto published last year. It describes the most important challenges for architects within the next ten years.
“At GROHE, we want to contribute to a better understanding of how water relates to its built environment. As such, we’re more than happy to support an architectural award that honours relevant research initiatives. I would like to thank the students of PCUP for bringing this specific water-related issue in the Amazon Rainforest to our attention.” – Christopher Barger, Senior Vice President of Global Projects at GROHE.
Proper handling of water is a top priority. Other categories include topics such as the ageing of society and health, climate, energy and carbon, ethics and values, power and justice, smart cities, building technologies, recycling and virtual worlds.
For the third time, GROHE, a leading global brand for complete bathroom solutions and kitchen fittings, has successfully achieved a leading position at the German Sustainability Awards in the “Big Companies” category, making it one of the top 3 “Most Sustainable Big Companies in Germany”.
The award ceremony took place on Friday 7th December and was part of the concluding celebrations to the German Sustainability Day which was honoured with a festive gala in Düsseldorf, Germany.
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