We are very proud to announce that Ooze was awarded the Bronze prize at the recent LafargeHolcim 2017 Awards, the world's most significant competition in sustainable construction. From over 750 entries across Latin America (and over 5,000 worldwide), our project Água Carioca was selected as a leading example of innovative design. The jury highlighted the 'intelligence and playfulness' with which Ooze took on the pressing challenge of water supply and sanitation in informal areas in Rio de Janeiro, as well as its participatory approach: “By making water treatment local and visible, the proposed scheme creates an active relationship between water management and the community”.
Água Carioca fundamentally turns around how we deal with water in urban areas: Instead of having to collect and transport it from each house to a treatment plant outside the city, the wastewater is cleaned and reused directly where it is produced creating a healthy, beautiful and clean habitat. You can read more on our new website, or on this site, www.aguacarioca.org.
We'd like to thank all our friends and colleagues over the years for their help in making Água Carioca a success, and in particular the support received from Studio-X Rio, Sitio Roberto Burle Marx, Rio de Janeiro Municipality, Dutch Consulate in Rio, Creative Industries Fund NL, Sacha Mollaret, Pedro Rivera, Gabriela Werneck, Marlon Souza, Claudia Storino, Mario Campanella, Verena Balz, Marina Hirsch, Gustavo Pacheco, Marianne von Lachmann, Mercedes von Lachmann and Izabel Noronha. Água Carioca is now moving to the next stage.
> See our winning entry here