Watertower

It’s been 50 years since UN Declaration (1960-Year of Africa)
about the independence of African nations which was the end
of the colonization and exploitation of the third world countries.
This important anniversary and debilitating civil war in Sudan was
my inspiration to create skyscrapter to evolo magazine competition.
WATER FIND ‘MAY END DARFUR WAR’
watertower, skyscrapers
A vast underground lake that scientists hoped could help to end violence in Sudan’s
Darfur region probably dried up thousands of years ago, an expert says.
Alain Gachet, who used satellite images and radar in his research, said the area
received too little rain and had the wrong rock types for water storage.
But the French geologist said there was enough water elsewhere
in Darfur to end the fighting and rebuild the economy.
Analysts say competition for resources such as water is behind the unrest.
More than 200,000 Darfuris have died and two million fled their homes since 2003.
”bbc news 20 July 2007”

”What most people don’t really know is that the war, the instability, in
Darfur is all based on the lack of water.”
Farouk El-Baz for Associated Press July 20, 2007
”There is enough water within these aquifers to bring peace in Darfur...
and even more - enough to reconstruct the economy of Darfur.”
Farouk El-Baz for BBC News 20 July 2007

Sudan is the biggest country in Africa; a country of desserts, tropical
bush and the unconquered swamps of the south. It is a country with
a strong ethnical, linguistic and religious diversification torn apart by a
conflict over water and land. This conflict traces a virtual boundary between
the north and the south and has continued to bring unrest for
over 50 years. The year 2003 resulted in 400 thousand dead and over
two million driven away from their homes in the province of Darfur alone.
In 2007 scientists from Boston University discovered an underground
lake in the region of Darfur. This lake, the tenth biggest lake in the
world (31 thousand square meters) can be the solution to the conflict.
The building I am proposing is meant to allow access to the underground
waters by the application of water pumps. The form of the building was
inspired by a water tower and also by the symbol of the African savanna
– the baobab. The building houses water pumps, a treatment plant
but also a hospital, a school and a food storage center. This building
is meant to provoke economical development but also stimulate cultural
exchange and the coexistence of the three different religions and languages.
This building is to be a focal point that will provoke the formation
of a new village; a new world united by the life giving power of water.