The Future of Water at Home: Architectural Design Challenge

Join USGBC California virtually on Wednesday, September 23 (12:00-1:30 PM PDT) for a recap of the Future of Water Use at Home Architectural Design Challenge. Winners and honorees will present their water-efficient home designs, and we’ll share the final report on challenge outcomes and key findings. The session also opens a conversation on moving these designs from board to field through pilot implementation, plus a preview of the next challenge: The Future of Data Centers.

RSVP via Eventbrite

 

A Global Call to Reimagine Residential Water Use Design

The Shaping the Future of Water Use at Home Architectural Design Challenge (ADC) is an international ideas competition organized by USGBC California and supported by regional and international partners and prize funders.

It invites architects, engineers, designers, and students to create innovative, water-efficient living spaces. By reimagining residential design, participants propose scalable solutions that make water and energy efficiency effortless, importantly without compromising comfort, beauty, or livability.

The goal: inspire residential solutions that can be applied in the next one to three years, accelerating progress toward a water-positive future.

 

Key Features

• • Innovative architectural and home design solutions that integrate water and energy efficiency seamlessly
  • Scalable and market-ready ideas for both new construction and retrofit homes
  • Kitchens, bathrooms, outdoor spaces, and landscaping re-envisioned for water-efficient living
  • Integration of smart home technology and leak detection
  • Use of passive and net-zero design principles
  • Nature-based approaches that reduce irrigation demand

Building on Success

This challenge built on lessons from the 50L Home Los Angeles Pilot, which proved water and energy savings are achievable without disrupting daily routines:

• Reduced average water use to 87 liters (23 gallons) per person per day — nearly 50% less than the Los Angeles average
• Achieved 40% hot water savings at kitchen faucets and laundry cycles
• Delivered overall household energy savings of more than 15%
• Learn more here (press release)

These results set the stage for the next wave of innovation through architecture and design.

 

Final Report Now Available

The full 21-page Final Report documents all six awarded projects, the jury’s insights and evaluation criteria, and a clear-eyed look at what the next generation of water-efficient homes could actually look like. It is written for practitioners, policymakers, and anyone who wants to understand where residential water design is headed, and what it will take to get there. Read the report here.

Winners were announced on May 28, 2026 at the California Green Building Conference in Berkeley. Three individuals and three teams were recognized across professional and student tracks, from a fog-harvesting coastal shelter to a showerhead LED that uses color psychology to curb water use. Read the full announcement, including all awardees and jury insights, in our press release here.

PROFESSIONAL TRACK

Winner: Red Dot Studio — Bio-Regional Shelter (California)
A rapidly deployable coastal shelter that harvests drinking water from fog, treats waste on site with biological filtration, and runs entirely off-grid — designed for farmworker housing, ADUs, and disaster response in fog-rich California.

Excellence Award: Allan Lee Haskell, architect — The Hydro-Circular Home (California)
Treat the home as a circular water economy. Embed Saya-Life leak intelligence at the supply line, mandate greywater-ready stub-outs at the slab, and run a color-coded Alternative Water Source line for non-potable reuse.

Merit Award: Dan Edleson, architect — Invisible Abundance: Made of Air (California)
Make water rather than just save it. Outdoor and indoor atmospheric water generators paired with HVAC condensate recovery, prefabricated as a single MEP (Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing) core for replication.

STUDENT TRACK

Student Winner: Flow — CoFlow (The Netherlands)
Loïc Chabus, Chuah Hao Feng, Yoonji Kim, Laura Schoonen, and Yat Hay Isabel Tsoi. Two adjacent homes share a single wet spine that consolidates rainwater storage, greywater treatment, and hot water heating into one visible infrastructure wall — making water efficiency a spatial and social feature rather than a hidden utility.

Emerging Innovator (Honorable Mention): Andrew Menna & Lori Yang — Red Light (California)
A showerhead LED that uses color as a behavioral cue. Yellow at three minutes before the user hits a 15-minute target at 1.5 GPM, red at the threshold. No manual required. Modeled at 1.367 trillion gallons saved annually if scaled across U.S. adults.

Emerging Innovator (Honorable Mention): Juan Gilberto Bugarin Castillo — Water Battery (Portugal)
Shared like a thermostat rather than an app that is private and can be ignored, a wall-mounted device shows the household’s daily water budget as a draining tank, the way a phone shows battery. Targets a path to 87 liters per person per day, consistent with the 50L Home LA Pilot.

JURY COMMENDATION HONORS

• Hafsa Burt, architect (California) — Water as Sacred
• Benito Olamendi, landscape designer (California) — Suburban Permaculture Retrofit
• Rohan G. Sutherland and team (Danilo Nesmiyan, Ely Sanchez, Andrew Leung, Frances Enriquez) (California) — Casa Atlas
• Gianlodovico de Mojana di Cologna, architect (Italy) — The CORE Method

In addition to fostering real-world and necessary solutions, the design challenge will foster collaboration between thought leaders, startups, and other innovators committed to a sustainable future.

Supporters include Accelerate Resilience LA (ARLA), East Bay Municipal Utility District, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Metropolitan Water District, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, and other community members, all committed to driving sustainable innovation.

     

Interested in the next challenge? We are currently planning our Data Center Design Challenge, Beyond the Box: Reimagining the Future of Data Centers. Learn more here.