The project’s starting point is the ongoing water-supply crisis in the Irish capital of Dublin. New water sources are needed to support the city’s growing population. Abandoned landfill sites in industrial South Dublin Bay are surrounded by a nature reserve, walking trails, and two power plants.

The project’s main concept is to reuse the warmed saltwater rejected from power plants in a mixed use infrastructure for low-cost desalination. Its own waste product, warm brine, discharges to establish a brine aerosol microclimate – the ideal conditions for the generation of salt marsh gardens, extending the nature reserve and preserving the timber structure of the power plant by keeping the wood perpetually moist. The same water source warms a public bath pool on the roof top via heat exchangers.

Read project feature in 4th Holcim Awards 2014/2015 (flip-book)