A team of landscape architecture students from the University of Oregon have won the Living Product Prize in the Biomimicry Global Design Challenge. The competition included professional, as well as student designs.
The team’s design, Living Filtration System, would create healthier agricultural soils and practices by preventing nutrients from leaving fields in the form of runoff. Their $10,000 Living Product prize was announced at the Living Product Expo in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The team in July won $2,500 for the statewide Portland State University Cleantech Challenge. On October 22, 2016 they will find out if they’ve won the $100,000 Ray of Hope grand prize from the Biomimicry Institute.
The Living Filtration System design was inspired by the earthworm’s “villi in the small intestine, wetlands, and the soil/biotic cycle,” as stated by the project overview. The goal of the Living Product Prize is to spotlight products that mimic design principles found in nature.
The team- Wade Hanson, Casey Howard, Matt Jorgensen, Alison Lewis, and Krisztian Megyeri- started working together in spring 2015 in a design studio taught by UO Department of Landscape Architecture instructors Anne Godfrey and Emma Froh.
Editorial Note: This story was originally published by the University of Oregon School of Architecture and Allied Arts