Sustainable Water

Back to the roots, one could comment on the jury's decision to award the Wilhelm Braun-Feldweg Prize for design-critical articles.

For the prize winning article, the fundamental function of design is to facilitate people's everyday life.

The work addresses vividly the issue of Bangladesh's major problems with water; the country is one of the poorest in the world.

In contrast to other regions in the world where the effects of aridity are life-threatening, there is too much water.

Floods are occurring regularly and lead to a contamination of the drinking water.

Conventional development aid projects like installing water pumps are intensifying the problem.

As a result of his research, Lars Mayer developed a product for the purification of drinking water which can be realised with local materials and techniques and therefore offers help to self-help.

The article "Sustainable Water" convinced the jury because of the significance of its theme and its originality, but also because of the clarity of its methods. The article deals with prevailing design strategies in a critical way and does not get stuck in theories and pure wishes - a documentary about a project which interests the reader through its clarity and simplicity in this complex topic.