Chicago Architecture Club has recently announced the winners of Chicago Prize for 2005: Water Tanks, a competition that challenged entrants to salvage a part of Chicago’s urban fabric, the industrial water tank, through creative reuse and preservation.

First prize went to Rahman Polk (PDF of his proposal) who had imagined to turn Chicago’s water tanks into a network of electricity-generating wind turbines…water tanks around Chicago would be transformed into a network of electrical generators that would create a citywide, publicly accessible WiFi network and use LED displays to broadcast Webcasts, cultural exhibits, Amber alerts, weather warnings and other public service announcements.”

Another interesting design, “Sanctuary,” won an honorable mention for its vision of the water tanks as UN-administered refuges for people seeking political asylum or those fleeing detention by the U.S. government.

Via A daily dose of architecture Chicago Sun-Times.