Grundfos: Water Justice

Grundfos is water pump company owned by a foundation that works on water justice, social inclusion, and innovation. For their new headquarters outside of Houston, C&G Partners created an exhibition experience that is one part empathy, one part history, and one part engineering.

One of the main pillars of Grundfos is access to water. Over 2 billion people worldwide lack a way to get healthy water daily. Grundfos donates pumps and technology around the world to start to address this issue.

For someone who simply turns on a tap to get the water they want, it is hard to imagine life without it. Simple hands-on, hearts-on exhibits encourage visitors to “walk in the shoes” of someone who has to risk their life, and walk for miles, to bring fresh water to their family. A family of four requires about 16 gallons of water a day.

Grundfos is best known for their signature water pump, the Alpha. Small, durable and innovative, the Alpha is installed in countless numbers around the world. A floating, ascending spiral of Alphas greets every visitor when they arrive.

The living wall that serves as a title for the exhibition beyond comprises all living plants, with no artificial elements. The mission statement that hovers over this living green plane was carefully calibrated to block no more light than the species under it could tolerate. The wall is — of course — regularly and precisely watered.

Over more than 80 years, the history of the family-owned Grundfos business has been a story of ethical engineering and global sustainability.

All the innovative demo modules along the “little river” on the floor are modular, adjustable and portable. Easily changeable and updatable explanatory information keeps pace with the constant innovation that is the hallmark of the company.