Gallery: A Giant Basket That Uses Condensation to Gather Drinking Water
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Designer Arturo Vittori believes the solution to the Ethiopian water shortage lies not in high technology, but in sculptures that look like giant-sized objects from the pages of a Pier 1 catalog.
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His stunning water towers stand nearly 30 feet tall and can collect over 25 gallons of potable water per day by harvesting atmospheric water vapor.
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Instead of looking to Western technology for a solution, Vittori was inspired by the Warka tree, a giant, gravity-defying domed tree native to Ethiopia that sprouts figs and is used as a community gathering space.
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Each pillar is comprised of two sections; a semi-rigid exoskeleton built by tying stalks of juncus or bamboo together and an internal plastic mesh reminiscent of the bags oranges come in.
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The nylon and polypropylene fibers act as a scaffold for condensation and as the droplets of dew form, they follow the mesh into a basin at the base of the structure.
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"To make people independent, especially in such a rural context it’s synonymous of a sustainable project and guaranties the longevity," says Vittori.
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The 88-pound sculpture is 26-feet wide at its broadest, but swoops dramatically to just a few feet across at it's smallest point.
