Cristhy Mattos, MDES-SUEN student, is featured in Rethinking the Future, a blog that focuses on international trends in architecture and design that looks on to the solutions for the need of the era. Cristhy’s project project studies efficient ways to treat trash and waste prior to they are returned to the environment. It also considers the financial opportunities around this process. The focus of her project was the City of Chicago’s Sanitary and Ship Canal, and the negative consequences that resulted from some of the interventions down at the time of its inception in 1900.

In response to this problem, which is a common dilemma for many large cities, Cristhy examined the designs of biodigestor stations, which can both reduce the contamination while generating bio-gas that could account for more than 20% of the city’s gas consumption. This approach both helps address the original problem created by the original treatment plans while provides resources to support the infrastructure and also alleviate fuel needs.

This project was included in the 2016 RISE competition here on campus and Cristhy was a finalist at that event.