Rice Petropolis project awarded First Prize in the Odebrecht Award for Sustainable Design

A team of Rice University students, including Joanna Luo, Weijia Song, and Alexander Yuen have been awarded first prize in the Odebrecht Award for Sustainable Development. The project was developed in the “Floating Frontiers” studio, conducted at Rice University by Neeraj Bhatia in the Spring of 2012. The team was selected from 422 registered students representing 173 Universities across the United States.

The project, “Drift & Drive”, addresses the logistical crisis of offshore oil extraction in the pre-salt region off the coast of Brazil. Proposing a consolidated network of agricultural, energy, hub and mobile oil islands, the project aims at increasing social and environmental sustainability.

The award was presented at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston on October 16th, where Nicholas Negroponte gave a keynote speech. Mayor of Houston, Anise Parker also was present, providing an introductory talk. The Rice team was awarded a total of $40,000 USD to be divided between the students, advisor and university.

For more information on the Ceremony can be found here:
Bloomberg Press Release
Rice News
Thresher