Grimshaw’s Water Theatre combines amphitheatre and carbon-neutral desalination plant

The city of Las Palmas in the Canary Islands invited proposals for regenerating the industrialised port area. Grimshaw’s proposal, in conjunction with Seawater Greenhouse included ways in which the island could move towards self-sufficiency in renewable energy and fresh water. The scheme uses coupled evaporators and condensers to produce large quantities of distilled water. The Canary Islands, being volcanic in origin, have very steep sides, which make it easy to reach water at approximately eight degrees centigrade from a depth of 1,000m below sea level. An added benefit for the scheme is that the Canary Islands have a very steady and warm northeasterly wind. The combination of these two environmental factors - the warm wind aiding evaporation and the deep seawater creating a very cold condensing surface - creates a highly productive water purification system.