Urbanization has thinned out the connection between humans and their immediate environment. When planning cities, the need to conserve green quarters was completely ignored. Forest areas got swapped with concrete regions, which fluffed up with each passing day.
At places, such a practice didn’t even leave a small patch that bore the green tag. The only effort made to fill in such a folly was the development of green belts, which enveloped the suburban regions. With WARP (Water and Air Recycling Pad), Vasco Pinto Alves has made an effort to provide an object that will make available clean air, water, electricity and bio-diesel. It will not just replace city landscape with trees or natural vegetation, but will provide a sustainable environment as well.
It is not easy to re-plan a city, as this will mean messing up with all the infrastructures like sewage systems, communication, electrical networks and sub-ways. Also, terrace gardens are not always a feasible option, for the condition of building needs to be analyzed before erecting one. The above conditions pose a great amount of difficulty in terms of planting trees for a better atmosphere. There is no land left, which will provide sol and viable conditions for trees to grow and spread their roots. Even if trees are planted, they will not attain a proper size, which can recover the atmosphere in an effective manner.
However, the artist has come up with small scale local systems, interconnected with vast networks, which don’t have an ill-effect on the ecosystem. WARP has been designed in a way that consists of system of stations that are further coupled with water, sewage, electricity and communication networks. Every station individually harnesses the solar energy, rain water and atmospheric air to ensure cleaner and greener urban ambiance. The energy stored is exploited for lighting and powering the electric grid.
On the other, carbon dioxide and nitrogen dioxide act as a nutrient for algae, which produce by-products that cleanse the air and release humidity. Biodiesel is produced by using their (algae) oil, while Ethanol and livestock feed is generated from components that are left behind. WARP also collects water, which can either be used in close-by regions or directed towards a reservoir. The designer has beautifully blended the best from nature and human technology to achieve this project.
WARP is visualization for clean and green spaces that are self sustainable. With its ingeniousness, it will cake concrete areas with a green coating, which will comprise of both recreational and nutritional vegetation. Urbanization has depleted forest areas, which has further given birth to a lot of problems. This is a sad situation and needs to be changed now. Deforestation adds to the pollution level.
The ozone layer is getting thinner and glaciers are melting, which is not a good sign at all. WARP providing shadow, humidity and an aesthetic sense will act as medium that will alter the shape of urban lands in a positive and greener manner. It will also produce micro-climes that will support the green regions on both public and private islands.
[Thanks Vasco]