Green Roofs Filter Water & Create Space

Back to Tap is looking forward to getting a new green roof project started. A little innovation can go a long way to making cities more liveable and improving drainage. Especially in places like London, where the sewerage system regularly overflows due to heavy rain, green roofs and permeable pavements provide an useful alternative. Does anyone else have ideas for more sustainable urbanisation?

Can the World Keep Up with Growing Demand for Water?

A little food for thought when we turn on the taps in the morning from our friends at visualizing.org. Back to Tap particularly enjoyed the runner up showing the projected increase in urban water consumption to 2030.

From: http://www.visualizing.org/visualizations/urban-water-needs-can-we-keep

The team used sponges and water to create a powerful visual display of just how much water thirsty humans will be drinking in coming years. Their findings provide one more reason to stop using wasteful water bottling and to think more seriously about how we manage all of the world's natural resources, including water.

Urban water needs: Can we keep up? from hal watts on Vimeo.

Moshe Safdie and Design for Humanity

At Back to Tap, we like to imagine that all architects and designers genuinely care about the world around them and how people interact with the buildings and objects they create. If people are going to go to the trouble of designing and building homes, offices and entire cities, it is important that they consider the people who inhabit these spaces.

The way we interact with water is particularly important. The way water enters our homes - the pipes and taps we use, and the way it leaves, and is filtered and returns to its source, has a huge impact on the environment, our health and well-being.

This symbiotic relationship between design, architecture, the environment and our health has frequently been ignored. We hope that in the future, more thinkers like Mosh Safdie will drive changes in the water and the built environment impact on our daily lives and the environment. We would love to read about any other inspiring designs.

The Majestic Plastic Bag

A great reminder that the vast majority of all plastic that we use ends up in our oceans. Has anyone else spotted a majestic plastic bag migrating to the sea recently?

Plastiki Redux - What can we learn from their journey?

As part of our ongoing engagement with the Plastiki team, Back to Tap recently caught up with David de Rothschilde in Australia. After completing the Plastiki voyage almost a year ago, it remains to be seen where he will be sailing next?

On our minds have been on the next step in the Plastiki team's voyage. After celebrating the one year anniversary of the voyage on March 20th, they are moving on to explore adventure, community and social change with a new online network at www.myoo.com. Check back next week to see what Back to Tap is up to on the Myoo network.

David de Rothschild Sails the Seas on the Plastiki

Building for Water in the Sky

Dear to Back to Tap’s heart is the issue of pollution from water delivery services, as building design evolves to reflect new technological capabilities, and as people seek to re-connect with the concrete world around them, water is certain to play a role. Already, celebrity architects are incorporating water into buildings in exciting ways, and the next step will be the adoption of creative water designs for everyday use.

In Singapore, as buildings rise skyward, so do parks and water features, with the Sands Skypark perched 57 stories above the ground. If humans are going to continue expanding skywards, water must always accompany them.

Rendering of Sands Skypark by Safdie Architects. Courtesy of Marina Bay Sands.

Moving from the monumental architectural use of water by architects from Frank-Lloyd Wright to Zaha Hadid, designers are now thinking about water systems at the household level. Designs for porous concrete, green roofs, grey water recycling systems, and innovative irrigation systems are changing the way we use, recycle and dispose of water.

Artist's impression of Dubai fountains, by Emaar