The Giant Sponge – Curator – JD Annual Design Awards 2019 – Interior Design

The Designers Athira V. G and VasantaVarshini’s have analyzed the fact that most of the buildings are covered with an air/waterproof building material. It obstructs the lack of air permeability and water permeability common concrete pavement so that the rainwater is not filtered underground.  Due to this a large amount of water ends up falling on an impervious surface such as parking lots, driveways, sidewalks, and streets rather than soaking into the soil, hence causing health issues.

The Designers have given a simple solution to these problems and have come up with an innovative product called THE GIANT SPONGE. The product draws inspiration from Pervious Concrete. Pervious concrete, also known as porous concrete is a flatwork application that allows water to drain to the underlying soils. It is traditionally used in parking areas and pedestrian walkways and is an important application for sustainable construction. It was first seen in the 1800s in Europe and was used for various structural purposes.

The Designers have worked on the same concept and have created tiles. They have carefully chosen the mixture contents with less amount of water to create a paste. Using this sufficient amount of paste to coat and bind the aggregate particles together has created inter-connected voids in the product that drains the water quickly.This tile has a three-level structure with safe edge and finished layering. It can be used in the garden area or outside the houses/office spaces