BABILONIA
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 2008
Winner of the Planeta Casa Award 2010
The community of Babilonia, located on the hills of Copacabana, a district of Rio de Janeiro, was the site of a great achievement for all involved. The challenge was to provide a sustainable system for the storage of celestial rainwater since the water coming from the city pipes is not enough and contaminated.
The solution was to build a grass roof to catch rainwater and store it in a tank containing a biological filter, which provides clean drinking water and does it ecologically, i.e. chlorine-free and naturally mineralized by the stones on the roof and in the tank.
Tibanos, Babilonians and students from MIT, all building together.

The initial training of green roof technology was given at
the TIBÁ Institute.
Placing the sand, gravel, earth and grass sods.
The process begins with the construction of a wooden structure that must support 150 kilograms per square meter. This weight is composed of gravel, earth, water, and biomass.
The children of the community participated in the process,
strengthening their vision of ecology and acquiring knowledge of roofs that
work as thermal insulators.

On the walls of the mess hall, the students painted motifs
of flora and fauna of the region. The result brought in more joy and addressed
the importance of environmental issues.

Peter Van Lengen installing the biological filter inside the
water tank of 3000 liters. The tank will receive all the grass roof´s
rainwater.

Drainage system made with gravel.