The objective of the “Filtration” skyscraper is to clean seawater while recycling the plastic and debris found in the infamous “Great Pacific Garbage”.

This project received an honorable mention in the famous Evolo 2019 competition to reward the design of skyscrapers by young architects. “Filtration” was designed by architect Honglin Li to provide solutions to the global environmental and energy crisis.

In order to clean our oceans while providing a source of green energy, the young architect has incorporated into his project several material recovery facilities and especially a water treatment plant.

These mechanisms allow the plant to be self-sufficient in energy while continuing to recycle surrounding floating waste, which is commonly found in the North Pacific.

Unlike a conventional material recovery facility whose operation relies mainly on gravity and the use of multiple conveyors to extract waste, sort it and redistribute it according to its content, “Filtration” uses seawater to pump the waste and polluted water to the top of the building, then filters the water and recycles it. Ultimately, non-recycled materials and recycled materials would be transported by tidal energy.

This technique proposed by Honglin Li, the project architect, offers a sustainable response to the problem of ocean pollution. Imagine these structures deployed around the globe? This sorting and filtration system would provide a regenerative solution for floating waste that could thus have another life. It would also reconcile nature and the human being.