ATL-59

What it does

Mexico City, one of the most populated cities in the world, it’s in a countdown to Day Zero, the day with no more water. ATL-59 is a system that facilitates rain collection in apartments and helps save water in day-to-day activities.

Your inspiration

In the past years, the city and the country have faced many water-related problems, including severe drought, questionable management of the water supply system and unequal access to water. In contrast, Mexico City suffers from severe floods in the rainy season. At the same time, the continuous growth of the population forces the city into vertical housing and demands more from the water supply system. We want to make water-saving accessible and easy for everyone and stay as far away from Day Zero. “ATL” means water in the indigenous language Nahuatl. The “59” represents the start of this countdown, we're in a race against time.

How it works

It consists of a 3-component system: A rain collector, a shower saving system and saving containers. With this the system can help a family of 4 save up to 20,000 L annually. The rain collector uses a 3-layer filter, that makes the water usable for flushing the toilet, watering plants, or cleaning your place/car. You can install it on both windows and balconies, the versatility of the installation is key to being able to install it in all types of apartments. The shower-saving system avoids the waste of cold water while reaching the desired temperature, by catching it with a surface and redirecting it to a container. This water can be used as rainwater and also to wash clothes. It uses standardized elements, making it adaptable to all bathrooms. Finally, the saving containers can be used with both systems, to store and transport the collected water. Its stackable design holds 6 L, the amount you need to flush the toilet, so no water it’s wasted.

Design process

We started with quick prototypes to explore the optimal size and shape of the components, and after lots of testing, we developed the user journey that helped us realise we needed a system. The creation process was iterative, exploring different solutions that made water-saving easy. After narrowing the options and selecting the critical touchpoints in an apartment lifestyle we refined the design. Finally, we built a final prototype for the rain collector with fibre glass to test it, but all the systems were designed so they can be produced on an industrial scale, optimizing costs and making it accessible for everyone.

How it is different

There was no solution for rain collection in apartments in urban zones. The commercial rain collectors are thought for houses and the systems to save water are complex to interact with. With ATL-59 we always had in mind to give the chance of saving water to everyone, making every step easy, from installation to the cleaning of the components.

Future plans

We want to take ATL-59 to every city with water supply problems. First, we'll start with one of the biggest in the world, Mexico City. We want to bring the project to production and make it accessible to the greatest number of people.

Awards

National Design Prize (Mexico) - Product Design Category 2021