![]() ![]() We have been financing this project using crowdfunding. ![]() “By being an innovative project, the initial development has been very challenging, technically, and financially. It has not been an easy task according to Arturo, with people not willing to believe that to harvest water from the air was an actual possibility. Later on, Arturo founded a non-profit, Warka Water Inc., officially constituted in 2016 in the United States.įirst of all, the technique of harvesting water from the air, it is not something new, explains Arturo. This is true everywhere but it is especially difficult to guarantee in a place where accessing those elements is not easy.” I learned a lot working in all these different contexts, designing a human settlement on Mars you have to make the most efficient use of the fundamental resources to support human existence, air, water, etc. Before that, with my design practice, I have been involved in several projects in different fields: Outer Space, Aerospace, Marine, and Terrestrial extreme environments. “Initially, Warka Water was a research project developed by my design office and it was self-financed. In this area, the problem of water scarcity is a scary reality with only a small part of the population has access to drinking water.”This aroused Arturo’s design and social instincts and that’s when the Warka Water concept started. “Here I witnessed for the first time the dramatic reality of children and women traveling for long distances to transport water, which is often not drinkable, polluted, and shared with animals. This mission was the result of Arturo’s visit, in May 2012, to northern Ethiopia. The construction of the various structures of the village is not only a sustainable work from the point of view of the materials or techniques used, but assumes also a social function, showing how architecture, especially in developing countries, can become an instrument of rebirth and cooperation,” explains Arturo. The community is also involved from the point of view of manual work, giving them the opportunity to learn new construction techniques. One of the aims of the project is to create an opportunity for collaboration and exchange between architects, workers, and the local ethnic groups. Throughout the construction process, the community is actively involved in every action. “Warka Tower is based on an in-depth study of local culture, first rediscovering it, and then using traditional techniques that make use of local natural materials, fused with cutting-edge technology. Like the tree, the Warka Tower serves as an important cornerstone for the local community, becoming part of the local culture and ecosystem by providing its fruits, shade, and offering a gathering place. The name of the project ‘Warka’ comes from the Warka Tree, which is a giant, wild fig tree native to Ethiopia. Early on we realized that above the water scarcity there were other urgent issues to be solved on those rural communities, this is why additional projects such as Warka Solar, Warka Garden, Warka Sanitation, Warka House, and Culture a Porter have been developed,” explains Arturo Vittori, the man behind this social design initiative. “Warka Tower is the first project we began developing in Ethiopia in 2014. The performance of the towers varies depending on the weather, but Vittori’s aim is to create a structure that would enable the community to extract up to 100 litres of water a day without the reservoir running dry.The initial design of the Warka Tower in Ethiopia in 2014. ![]() “Warka Water is currently represented by a tower that reaches up to the sky to collect moisture from the air and brings it down by gravity to the people,” Vittori says. ![]() A fabric canopy shades the lower sections of the tower to prevent the collected water from evaporating. Rain, fog and dew condenses against the mesh and trickles down a funnel into a reservoir at the base of the structure. The tower consists of a bamboo frame supporting a mesh polyester material inside. Vittori is currently developing a lightweight wooden tower – which is quick and cheap to build without any power tools – that harvests water from the atmosphere via condensation. “Warka Water is a philosophy looking at the environment and different possibilities to collect and harvest water in a sustainable way,” he explains in the movie, which Dezeen filmed at his studio in the countryside outside Rome. Through the Warka Water project, Vittori is investigating alternative water sources for remote communities without access to running water. In this exclusive movie, Italian architect Arturo Vittori explains how his wooden Warka Water structures can provide clean drinking water for rural communities in the developing world. ![]()
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