The Atmospheric Archive

HafenCity Universität Hamburg

Project idea

The WHO estimates, 2.1 billion people, a quarter of the world population, already lack sufficient access to drinking water and 3.4 billion people still lacking safely managed water sanitation.It is not a privilege but rather a basic human right which must be accessible for all human beings.

Project description

This is where fog harvesting might be able to intervene and help manage the problems. Fog is the condensation of atmospherical moisture into liquid. Fog harvesting could lower the pressure on urban groundwater resources and enable steady freshwater sources even in times of low supply.

Technical information

The basic idea would consist of creating huge areas in the mountains that are covered with fog harvesting structures acting as microclimate-biomes for agriculture and water collection. The hollow sphere shape allow for vertical water collection running towards gutters as a potable water source while the horizontal areas define the space where the collected fog trickles down to automatically water the fruits and
vegetables below these meshes. That allows to create spaces for everyday life to take place as farming is very much involved in the day to day life.