GROHE in association with the World Architecture Festival (WAF), are rewarding first-class innovation and research initiatives that address global water challenges,

Water scarcity is one of the key challenges in modern times and is experienced by both underserved and developed communities. Now, more than ever it is important to investigate the relationship between the built environment and water.

How do we design our surroundings to meet new demands that are a result of water scarcity, pollution, or drought? Architects can play a crucial role in answering this question by creating buildings, cities and even complete landscapes that adapt to our changing ecosystem. There is already a great amount of research being undertaken across the profession and the WAF Water Research Prize, which is sponsored by GROHE and open now for entries, is one such initiative that aims to encourage and champion the latest thought-leadership ideas and innovations within the built environment.

Investing in the future of water

The WAF Water Research Prize was developed out of the WAF Research Programme, which centres around the top ten challenges architects need to address in the upcoming years. These challenges, amongst others, include the climate, energy, carbon, and water usage as well as the ageing population and health. WAF and its founding partner GROHE, want to draw attention to projects and research that present innovative ideas to tackle the unique challenges around water that society faces. Each year, the winner receives funding of £10,000 as a contribution to their work investigating the architectural implications of water in respect to buildings and the built environment. Additionally, the winner has the chance to present their research on the Festival Hall Stage at the event, which takes place in Lisbon later this year.

For GROHE, water is at the heart of everything the brand does – taking care of every drop is one of GROHE’s
top priorities in order to provide “Pure joy in water” to future generations. GROHE is dedicated to support
research that explores the future of saving and preserving water with the WAF Water Research Prize. This
year’s application phase is open now and architects can submit entries until 27th September 2021 (further
details can be found here). The winner will be announced on 18th October,

The last three winner projects can be found here:

2018: https://researchprogramme.worldarchitecturefestival.com/2018-winner
2019: https://researchprogramme.worldarchitecturefestival.com/2019-winner
2020: https://researchprogramme.worldarchitecturefestival.com/2020-winner