Project Name: The Human Water Pump

Project Type:
Architecture/landscape design

Project Mission/Goal:
This project responds to our ever-growing need for clean water as well as our need to save and not waste energy.

Project Description:
Nam’s Human Pump is a 12-meter-wide boardwalk designed to be placed in areas of heavy foot traffic, such as the main route to a school or market. Kinetic energy generated through walking or playing is absorbed throughout the course of the day and stored for use. Later on in the day the structure should, ideally, have enough stored energy to pump water to the surface thus transforming the structure from a boardwalk into a waterfall and play area for all to use.

Although the images of the structure are compelling, it would be much more useful and less wasteful to place a structure such as this within a city space or village where clean water is hard to come by and difficult to reach by foot. Putting such a structure in a desert, as the renders depict, could potentially waste a lot of water. This project is certainly feasible though and could potentially bring water to a number of communities throughout the world.

Links and Captions:
http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/10/20/the-human-pump-by-gunwook-nam/
http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/8/view/4259/the-human-pump-by-gunwo...
http://www.gizmag.com/human-water-pump/10283/picture/56476/
http://www.tuvie.com/human-pump-using-kinetic-energy-to-power-the-water-...
http://www.igreenspot.com/human-pump-collects-shock-energy-from-steps/

Project Details:
LOCATION: Timbuktu, Mali, Africa
PROJECT STATUS: Concept design
DATE: 2008
END USER: Dwellers and travelers in the Sahara Desert
DESIGN TEAM: Yun Hee Lee, Gunwook Nam
COST: $50000 USD
AREA: 900 sq m/9688 sq ft

Nominated by Elizabeth Cohn-Martin