Water From Fog

Harvesting fog in dry coastal climates

In the Atacama Desert in Chile farmers use “Atrapanieblas,” or Fog Traps, a system developed by Carlos Espinosa Arancibia in the 1960’s. On the ridges above their agricultural land they have installed long swaths of mesh fencing which collect water droplets from the coastal fog. The collected water is fed via gravity to the valley below to support food production. Living in California, I felt we might also benefit from this technology given our foggy mornings and persistent drought. I decided to apply this technology at a smaller scale in the form of a water collecting garden sculpture. 3-D mesh panels drip water into soil or storage containers to hold the collected water until needed. In a future world such a device could supplement water under periods of restricted water use. This solution is much simpler than the previous work, but can only be used under very specific climatic conditions.

Sculptural Intervention

While taking a Landscape Architecture class at UC Berkeley, we were tasked with building a sculpture in their experimental garden. My team was given an area that was rimmed by a long, serpentine bench emblazoned with a thin edge of red paint. This contrasting horizon line made a strong impression in the verdant garden overhung with tree boughs. We decided to upcycle a used palette we found on the property that already had a blue painted edge, and use it as the base of a cube-shaped water collector.