YOUNG ARCHITECTS STUDIO COMPETITION PROJECT: Clean Water Workshop PARTICIPANT: Robert Tuñón and Keith Labutta DESCRIPTION: Pittsburgh’s waterways are not polluted because of our industrial past, but because our antiquated infrastructure causes 16 billion gallons of wastewater to overflow into the city’s rivers every year. The built-up shoreline forces rainwater runoff directly into the waterways, and the lack of green space at the rivers’ edge allows for limited natural filtration. There is increased public access and interaction with the riverfront, but recreationalists lack awareness of the unhealthy state of the rivers. As an intervention, the Clean Water Workshop provides a place where every day recreational activities aid in the filtration of rainwater runoff. Collective individuals and teams power a variety of resistance machines to generate the energy used in the water filtration process. To carry out this mission, the highly visible urban void beneath the Tenth Street Bypass will be utilized, as it is a place where a dense roadway system meets a high volume of pedestrian traffic. JURY COMMENTS: The jury selected this project because it addresses a real void with a real solution, addressing a need that exists both recreationally and environmentally. We need attention drawn to clean water and the solution engages the community. It achieves everything we want to do on our riverfronts and makes it fun to participate. This space is very bleak from the other side of the river, yet the solution makes all the space useable and beautifully conveys the aesthetic of Pittsburgh’s riverfronts at night. The project has a totally modern sensibility, done simply and practically, as a celebration of health. It is clearly presented and highly inventive. The graphics are superb.