A group of visionary ecological innovations that spawned a movie and companion book are now being aimed at real-life use. Chris Zelov, whose inspiring film Ecological Design: Inventing the Future outlined the major players in the regenerative design movement, has now formed the Living Rivers Initiative to consolidate those technologies and take them to the river.
Specifically, that would be the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Pronounced "skookl," the word means "hidden river" in Dutch - and as Zelov put it, thanks to pollution it's been hidden for quite a while now.
He plans to arrange private funding for the construction of the Schuylkill Maid, a floating barge that would clean up the river using technologies - the Living Machine and the Pillowdome - highlighted in his film.
"It really came out of the research and development from the film," said Zelov. Their advance, like any other design innovation, has been hindered by long-obsolete zoning codes and construction laws - so their idea was to put it on a barge, where Coast Guard and EPA concerns would be the only hassle.
Living Machines, pioneered by John Todd of Ocean Arks International, are biological sewage and wastewater treatment systems that use a series of tanks which house plants, fish and other organic material to clean the polluted water. It operates not unlike a natural wetlands area, and is safer and more efficient than chemical or other traditional methods.
Such a system could not only clean the river, said Zelov, but produce aquaculture: "According to John Todd, it could produce up to 100,000 pounds of fish per year to feed the city, and the water could be recycled into gardens and swimming pools," he said.
The Pillowdome, which came to the author and inventor J. Baldwin in a dream in 1969, is a geodesic dome crafted from inflated triangular pillows. "They don't leak, they're lightweight and transparent, are portable, recyclable - and can withstand hurricanes," said Baldwin. Twin Pillowdomes would provide coverage for the Living Machines inside.
While this technology works, said Baldwin, there are definitely some engineering studies to be conducted. "The largest scale Living Machine cleans 80,000 gallons of water per day, but it hasn't been done on a river before," he said.
Still, there is no doubt that the technologies used are economical. An old Navy barge could be recycled as the Schuylkill Maid's base, and the Pillowdomes are cheaper than traditional greenhouses. The expensive aspect, said Baldwin, are the Living Machines themselves - the tanks and their ingredients could cost around US$500,000. Over time, however, Living Machines run cheaper than conventional systems.
Baldwin, who designed the Schuylkill Maid interior and was commissioned to build the $6,000 model that represents it, would act as a consultant to set it up, but other companies would actually build it. Baldwin also wants to get area high-schoolers involved in the construction - when building the first Pillowdomes, he recruited a group of kids that today would be deemed slackers. "Our problem was to get them to stop working," he said.
This community-based spirit shows the dual purpose of the Living Rivers Initiative - besides the ecological advantage, Zelov wants to use the project as a means to get the word out. "We see this as a symbolic project," he said. "We see this as a symbolic architecture, that this is a beacon of a different form of architecture, [and] we hope it can galvanize interest in regenerative design."
The Schuylkill Maid as designed would be open to the public, equipped with educational displays and information - it could also serve as a learning center for the nearby Academy of Natural Sciences, said Zelov.
The project has just been officially proposed in Philadelphia, as an addition to existing plans to build a park on the river, a project that will take up to a year to complete. Zelov isn't sitting around waiting, but instead is marking additional targets. "We hope to take this concept to the major rivers in the Western world - the Seine, the Danube, the Hudson and the St. Lawrence, as well as the Schuylkill," he said.
This strategy will allow cities to choose for themselves whether they want to be seen as a leader. Zelov is confident one will bite. "To get things done, for instance, in France ... if you can get the minister on your side, you can make things happen. Like if you study the history of Minitel, their electronic phone system, they got it to every house once the state bureaucracy decided it was something they wanted," he said. "I'm not giving up on Philadelphia, I'm just diversifying."
