Finalist
BIOUNIT
Category: Special We Are Water Foundation Prize
Designed by: Aleks Cicha & Charles Chambers (UK)
Aleks Cicha
Aleks was born in Poland in 1986. He studied at the UCL, Bartlett School of Architecture and graduated with an MA in Architecture in 2014 with a distinction.
Her work oscillates around different topics such as synthetic biology, technology and mass culture. Aleks’s film and artwork has been shown and exhibited around the world including Imagine Science Film Festival New York, Foresight Film Festival and Biofiction. She worked at several design studios in London focusing on the merge between technology and art, as well as a researcher and designer at the University of Greenwich exploring topics related to the Internet Of Things and Augmented Reality. In 2016, she and her partner Charles set up a design studio, Aleks & Charles, specializing in the design aspects of brand building.
Charles Chambers
Charles was born in England in 1998. He studied fashion design at the University of East London, where he received a BA in Fashion Design in 2013.
He worked first as a freelance designer creating garments for fashion houses like Marc Jacobs, Maison Margiela, Meadham Kirchoff. After that, he went to work as the head of design at Fox Willson & Orro, further exploring technical fabrics and performance garments and developing commercial fashion collections.
His interest in this topic has developed since his graduation collection and now Charles focuses on the launch of his own brand “Dyed in the wool” as well as running a design studio with Aleks.
BIOUNIT
BIOUNIT is a water and energy saving, self-contained, bathroom unit which main function, as well as the aesthetics, is dictated by human-nature relation.
It consists of three sections: the wash sink, the shower and the toilet, accessible from different sides of the unit. Each of the sections in order to function, cooperates with the others, reusing and purifying the water, creating methane for water heating and last but not least unfolding a unique and pleasant experience.
