Winners of the 2020 World Architecture Festival Water Research Prize have been announced

The World Architecture Festival kicks off its virtual festival as it announces its first set of award winners. This year event programming was adjusted to an online platform due to the pandemic. 

Today, they announced the winners of the GROHE Water Research Prize. "The Water Research Prize was developed from the WAF Research Programme. This was launched to promote the ideas highlighted in the WAFX Manifesto, marking WAF's 10th anniversary in 2017. The manifesto identified key challenges architects will need to address over the next ten years, comprising Water; Climate, Energy, and Carbon; Aging and Health; Re-use; Smart City Technology; Power and Justice; Cultural Identity; Ethics and values; Building Technology and Virtual Worlds," shares WAF.

Researchers from the University of Patras and the University of West Attica have been awarded a £10,000 research prize as they explore rainwater and how it aids in cooling building facades in sweltering cities. This is the third time the research prize has been awarded. 

Learn more about the project below.

Suspended Modular Lightweight Facade System for Evaporative Cooling with Harvest Rainwater

Project Winners: Research team from the University of Patras, Greece (Professor K.A. Liapi, K. Papanikolaou from the Department of Architecture, School of Engineering, University of Patras in Greece, and I. Sibetheros from the University of West Attica,

Project Details:  The winning project is a suspended modular lightweight facade system for evaporative cooling with harvested rainwater. A light-weight structure which can be retrofitted to existing building facades will now be developed with façade consultants. Rainwater will be collected in a roof-tank and used within the system which will spray some of it onto the building, while retaining as much as possible. The lead researcher of the winning team is Professor K.A. Liapi from the Department of Architecture, School of Engineering, University of Patras in Greece.

Researchers says the new structure, when developed, ‘will combine art, technology, architecture and mathematics’, serving as a prototype which will be able to include planting to further help in cooling strategies.

To learn more about the WAF Research Program click here. 

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