Young Architects Program International

More than two billion gallons of water circulate everyday beneath New York City. COSMO is a "movable artifact," made out of customized irrigation components, which aims to make this hidden system of pipes visible and enjoyable. COSMO is engineered to filter and purify 3,000 gallons of water over a four-day cycle, eliminating suspended particles and nitrates, balancing the pH, and increasing the level of dissolved oxygen.

The United Nations estimates that by 2025 two thirds of the global population will live in countries that lack sufficient water. COSMO is designed as both real-world and online prototype. Its purpose is to trigger awareness, and to be easily reproduced around the world, giving people access to drinking water—and to a dialogue about it. COSMO is a device meant to gather people together, to create an environment as pleasant and climatically comfortable as a garden and as visually rich as a mirrored disco ball. COSMO moves to go wherever the party happens.

As a result of a complex biochemical design, its stretched-out plastic mesh glows automatically whenever its water has been purified. With COSMO, the party is literally lit up every time the environment is being protected.