Infrastructure
Our aim is for the Art Village to take gentle care of its surroundings, no matter where it settles. The water management and decentralised energy systems address the urgent need to minimise the footprint humans make on their local environment. The Village will implement technologies that allow us to obtain resources ethically, distribute them and manage our waste wisely.
In the desert, water is a treasure. It is bliss. Arturo Vittori and Latha Raman Jaigopal have designed a semi-demountable, circular water management system harvesting, storage, distribution, collecting, treatment, vitalization and reuse. The treatment facility should allow our Village to revitalise and recycle grey and black water. Once treated it will then be used in the Oasis, producing a full-circle water cycle and making every drop count.
We envisioned 4 main supply lines for each body of the Village. Water collection and usage points will be made available by valve connections branching off from the main supply lines.
Individual wastewater branch lines are connected to main lines leading to collection tanks. After treatment, wastewater will be pumped and transported to the Oasis.
After its preliminary use, water goes through an advanced primary treatment process which filters out large particles. It is then sent to the sedimentation tanks where sludge settles to the bottom and scum rises to the top.
Bacteria are added to ingest organic solids in further treatment, producing a secondary sludge which also settles to the bottom.
Tertiary treatment then filters out all the remaining solids before disinfecting the water with a UV filter.
In order to find the cleanest energy solutions for Village needs, we have been developing an off-the grid system with Punit Gandhi, Johannes Peschel from Kitepower BV, and Colin Touhey from Pvilion.
Each tent will have its own renewable energy generation and storage. Parts of the Village with higher energy demands will be connected in a centralised electrical network powered by solar fabric and wind power.
Unlike conventional wind turbines, a Kitepower system requires neither resource intensive towers nor heavy foundations, making it mobile and easy to deploy. The 100 kW system includes an adjustable line length that allows for its high-performance kite to be flown at altitudes where wind is generally more intense, persistent and abundant.
Unique solar-printed fabrics produced by Pvilion will be integrated into our architecture to make key Village structures self energizing.
A main objective for the Village is to be as close to 100% renewable energy reliance as possible within the first ten years of operation.