Eight films have been shortlisted in a design competition to find the best ideas on how to prevent flooding. The films present ideas including an app to record live flooding and environmental issues, a water sensitive vision of the island Noirmoutier in France in 2080, an idea to reconnect the Porter Brook River in Sheffield and a simple ten point plan of action to prevent flooding. The shortlist includes entrants from India, France and the UK, practising architects, landscape architects and students. All eight shortlisted films are available to watch on YouTube.
The competition, sponsored by ACO and organised by six professional bodies, all members of the Inter Institutional Flooding Group (IIFG) and London’s The Building Centre, challenged entrants to put forward ambitious proposals to tackle flooding using the medium of film. The judges wanted to see evidence of improved resilience to flooding, enhanced ecosystems, reduced demand on the mains water supply, and to provoke debate around current thinking on how to tackle flooding.
An overall winner will be announced at Ecobuild, the world's leading event for sustainable design and construction at ExCel London in the Royal Docks, on Tuesday 3 March 2014 at 1pm.
Speaking about the shortlist Noel Farrer, President of the Landscape Institute said: “The UK desperately needs a fully integrated approach to flooding, water supply and land use management. The shortlisted films demonstrate in a really vibrant and dynamic way what could be possible if we adopted a mixed green, grey and blue approach. There’s a lot of energy being directed at the politics of flooding and who pays for what. What we really need is the people in power to watch these film for fresh insight on how to solve the on-going problem of flooding.”
Peter Ridgway, ACO Brand Development Director, said: “We are delighted to be involved in this year’s ‘How to Prevent Flooding competition’. The high number of submissions of remarkable quality and ingenuity gives massive encouragement to those of us directly involved in helping create drainage solutions for the 21st century. The innovative and fresh thinking involved in the ideas submitted suggests we are going to see much more sustainable management of water in our built environment over the coming years. Thank you to all those who took part.”
The 8 shortlisted films
:
How to Prevent Flooding: an instructional ideas film - Room 60
Celebrating Water in the City: an integrated strategy for flood alleviation along the Porter Brook - Sarah Barker & Lizzie Griffin, University of Sheffield
Transition to a Coastal Landscape: designing a flood resilient coastal settlement in Par Dock, Cornwall - Edward Barsley, University of Cambridge
Underground Taming of Floods for Irrigation (UTFI) - International Water Management Institute
I-ngress: working together to alleviate flooding - Atkins
Flooding – a bigger picture - Deepthi C B & Hina Bajaj
Living with the Sea - Anaïs Chanon
Water Boulevards - Baharash Architecture
The judging panel was:
David Balmforth – President, ICE
Robert Barker – Director, Baca Architects
Martin Fairley – Research Director, ACO
Terry Fuller – Director of Operations, Jacobs
Tony Mulhall - Associate Director Land Professional Group, RICS
Stuart Ryder – Director, Ryder Landscape Consultants
The films will be shown at Ecobuild alongside Rethinking the urban landscape, an exhibition co-curated by the Landscape Institute and The Building Centre. As part of the Ecobuild Design Fringe from ACO there will be a series of PechaKucha events. Taking place on the 3, 4 and 5 March the subjects are ‘Best Urban Design’, ‘Think Differently’, Water, People, Place’, and ‘Here’s a thought.
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