AIRBUBBLE

AIRBUBBLE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AV9pbZm3YY

London-based architecture and innovation firm ecoLogicStudio , led by Claudia Pasquero and Marco Poletto, has designed AirBubble for Otrivin Breathe Clean. The innovation brings to life the world’s first biotechnological playground to integrate air-purifying micro-algae.
AirBubble creates a purified microclimate for children to play in, a true bubble of clean air in the centre of Warsaw (Poland).
It incorporates a cylindrical timber structure wrapped in an ETFE membrane protecting 52 glass algae reactors. This creates a real urban algae greenhouse. The space is equipped with ropes, foot pumps and bouncy spheres, and can function as both playground and outdoor classroom. The white bubbling noise of the algae gardening system masks the surrounding urban noise to provide a calming atmosphere in which to play and interact.
The ETFE membrane – an evolution of the PhotoSynthetica urban curtain system presented in Dublin in 2018 by ecoLogicStudio – controls the microclimate inside AirBubble. The inverted conical roof membrane further stimulates the air recirculation and natural ventilation, which in turn keeps the play area clean.

The AirBubble monitoring system integrates urban air pollution sensors and is connected to a data processing platform capable of comparing measurements in real time and of highlighting the Air Quality Index for six core pollutants
The peak reduction rate is an impressive 83%. This figure has been calculated by comparing readings from a pollution sensor located outside AirBubble with real-time data feeds from a monitoring device placed inside.
The AirBubble hosts 52 large bioreactors in borosilicate glass which contain 520 litres of living green Chlorella sp algae cultures that can filter a flow of polluted air of 200 litres/minute. While the liquid medium washes particles, the algae actively eat the polluting molecules as well as carbon dioxide to then release fresh clean oxygen.

#biotechnology#landscapearchitecture#design

https://www.ecologicstudio.com/projects/airbubble-playground-and-exhibition

The project is located within the public green space outside of the Copernicus Science Centre (Centrum Nauki Kopernik), a site which will also host a dedicated exhibition illustrating the design innovation behind the invention of AirBubble. The museum team and local community has been involved in the project at multiple levels, from the involvement of the scientist in the project development, as well as the continuous participation of the museum team in the gardening and monitoring process, while local kids have been the core engine of the project and local microalage species the active principles enabling the playground to positively transform urban air through play. Finally morphologically the the Air Bubble make use of the exhisting wooden platform located in from of the Museum, absorb the car pollution from the underground tunnel and harvest local rain water.

This playground needs two sources of power: solar energy and kids’ instinctive drive to explore and to play. These constitute the inexhaustible and renewable fuels of the AirBubble that can be obtained effortlessly. The AirBubble is the trigger of a process that can only grow and multiply its beneficial effects towards future generations.
The AirBubble playground at the Copernicus Science Centre (Centrum Nauki Kopernik) was open to the public and involved a lot of children during its permanence. They were the engine, the children of the community, with their help we were able to make it work!

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), air pollution is the biggest global health threat. Warsaw was selected as the first activation for this project as it is one of the most polluted cities in Europe.
AirBubble invents a new architectural typology. It incorporates a cylindrical timber structure wrapped in an ETFE membrane protecting 52 glass algae reactors. This creates a real urban algae greenhouse. The space is equipped with ropes, foot pumps and bouncy spheres, and can function as both playground and outdoor classroom. The white bubbling noise of the algae gardening system masks the surrounding urban noise to provide a calming atmosphere in which to play and interact.
The filtering process is enhanced by the architectural morphology of the playground structure. The ETFE membrane – an evolution of the PhotoSynthetica urban curtain system presented in Dublin in 2018 by ecoLogicStudio – controls the microclimate inside AirBubble. The inverted conical roof membrane further stimulates the air recirculation and natural ventilation, which in turn keeps the play area clean.
The AirBubble monitoring system integrates urban air pollution sensors and is connected to a data processing platform capable of comparing measurements in real time and of highlighting the Air Quality Index for six core pollutants: fine particulate PM2.5 and PM10, ground level Ozone (O3), Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2), Sulphur Dioxide (SO2) and Carbon Monoxide (CO). AirBubble is capable of absorbing 97% of the nitrogen and 75% of the particulate matter in the air.
Early data collected in May 2021 shows concentrations of PM2.5 within the playground have fallen well within the recommended WHO limits (green zone, AQI below 20). The peak reduction rate is an impressive 83%. This figure has been calculated by comparing readings from a pollution sensor located outside AirBubble with real-time data feeds from a monitoring device placed inside.