Open Innovation Challenge Winner!

We are very happy to announce the results for the Open Innovation Challenge!

Amongst the entries received for the Architectural Design Challenge, there is one that stands out for its extremely sound contextual understanding and the effectiveness with which it translated insights into design directions.

The entry was submitted by RMA Architects and the Project Sammaan team was unanimous in selecting it as the winner. Besides responding to the brief extremely well, the entry provided new directions which could be incorporated in the architectural design’s next iteration.

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Project Sammaan Open Innovation Challenge!

Project Sammaan is a development project that seeks to create improved sanitation services for the urban poor residing in slums in India. The project is being driven by a consortium that consists of Quicksand Design Studio, Jameel Poverty Action Lab, & the city governments of two large cities in India. It is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF).

The name “Sammaan” stems from our belief that it’s very important to transform the user experience for these facilities from one heavily coated with shame to one of respect and dignity.

The project seeks to design & build 119 sanitation facilities in urban slums in India. Collectively, these facilities will have 1200+ toilets, bathrooms, spaces for washing clothes, and will benefit 60,000+ people. The project started in February 2012 and will last for 16-19 months at the end of which these toilets will be operational.

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