Breaking New Grounds

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Addressing the growing need of water in Dafur, Sudan, Polish architectural student Hugon Kowalski of architectural firm H3AR has profiled a multi-purpose building that will pump water from an underground lake.

In the African country of Sudan there has always been a struggle to find a new source of fresh water, a struggle that has caused many conflicts in the past. With the recent discovery of an immense underground lake however, many are hoping these conflicts will soon come to an end. Designed as a part of eVolo’s skyscraper competition, Poland-based Hugon Kowalski’s skyscraper proposal in Dafur, Sudan defines a means not only to pursue a viable water source but also to sustain life. Kowalski’s scheme takes the water crisis into account and has developed a tower to aid in the finding of underground water and creating an artificial lake.

Drawing inspirations from the basic concepts of a water tower and ‘Baobab,’ the African ‘upside down’ tree from Savannah, the building is conceived as a towering structure of 7120m which will be a focal point for the formation of a whole new village. The concepts of the building align itself to eco-friendly architectural principles. The structure employs alternative sustainable and construction techniques by stacking compressed sun-baked clay bricks, made on site, composed of a rough mixture of earth, cement and water. The choice of this technology simulates minimal energy use and low environmental impact. The structure embodies a multi-functional aspect—housing water pumps, a treatment plant, a hospital, a school and a food storage centre. Introducing a calculative technological facet, the design contrives extraction of water from subterranean resources through application of pumps. These pumps facilitate an integration of two water circulation processes that have been developed for the heating/cooling exchange of the building. They extract the water from the aquifier and pump through the building, enhancing the heating and cooling. The water will be treated and reserved in the core of the building as a water provision meant for domestic usage. The architect has managed to tap the available resources through good design and effective water management.

“This building is meant to provoke economical development but also stimulate cultural exchange and the coexistence of the three different religions and languages,” says Hugon Kowalski.

The planning involves a symmetrical triad of towers that will stabilise the micro-climate, shading the area created by them and enabling a creation of an artificial lake as a solace for locals to escape the arid climate. Still a concept, the project features outline its immense possibilities to have far-reaching consequences. It showcases a spectrum of hope, for the drought-stricken region, interspersed with social responsibility on one extreme and an innovative architectural technique on the other.

Text Compilation: Text: Maanasi Hattangadi
Photographs: courtesy the architect