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EcoLogicStudio uses algae to purify air inside enclosed playground for children
EcoLogicStudio has designed AirBubble, a children's play pavilion that uses algae in solar-powered bioreactors to remove carbon dioxide and pollutants from the air.
The London-based studio claims the 52 bioreactors mounted around the structure's perimeter can purify the entire volume of air inside the pavilion each day to keep pollution levels within World Health Organization guidelines.
AirBubble is a playground that contains a microclimate of algae-purified air
AirBubble is located outside the Copernicus Science Centre (Centrum Nauki Kopernik) in Warsaw, Poland, a site EcoLogicStudio chose partially because the city is one of the most polluted in Europe.
Algae in the bioreactors uses photosynthesis to split carbon dioxide into carbon, which it needs to grow, and oxygen, which it releases into the cylindrical interior. The algae also absorbs atmospheric pollutants.
The timber structure contains a ring of algae-filled bioreactors
The 52 glass bioreactors contain a total of 468 litres of living green chlorella sp. algae cultures. This can filter 200 litres of polluted air per minute, the designers claim, meaning the algae can purify all the air inside the 283-cubic-metre structure in a 24-hour period.
The algae needs to be harvested each week while the power needed to run the bioreactors is "inexhaustible and renewable", according to EcoLogicStudio.
The algae inside the bioreactors eats carbon dioxide and pollutants and creates oxygen through photosynthesis
"This playground needs two sources of power: solar energy and kids' instinctive drive to explore and to play," said EcoLogicStudio co-founder Claudia Pasquer.
The solar energy drives the photosynthesis by which the algae purifies the air, while the children's play activates machinery that moves liquid through the bioreactors.
The play equipment within AirBubble consists of ropes, bouncy spheres and pedal pumps. When there are no children in the space, an air pump in the timber deck guarantees the bioreactors get the required aeration.
AirBubble contains ropes, bouncy spheres and foot pumps for play
"We wanted to create a new kind of playground that was at the same time fun, safe and educational for all kids," Pasquer told Dezeen. "We wanted to channel the power of play towards making meaningful social and ecological changes to our cities."
"The link between urban air quality, respiratory health and public wellbeing has become more and more obvious during Covid and it is now a critical factor, especially for children in the post-pandemic world."
The studio says the setting is also suitable for an outdoor classroom, as the bubbling of the bioreactors creates a calming white noise that masks the sounds of the city beyond.
AirBubble integrates and updates an earlier project by the studio called PhotoSynthetica, which covered a Dublin building with an algae "curtain".
Children generate power for the bioreactors as they play
A similar EFTE membrane wraps around AirBubble, protecting the equipment inside and maintaining the microclimate.
Other aspects of the architectural morphology also enhance the workings of the bioreactors. The circular shape allows the reactors to collect light in all directions throughout the day, while the inverted conical roof membrane stimulates the recirculation of air.
It creates a natural stack effect that promotes the expulsion of heat and moisture through openings at the top.
Even with new air entering the space through these openings and through the curtained doorways, the system still keeps the pollution levels below the WHO limit.
The space can also be used as an outdoor classroom
Timber was chosen to lower the environmental impact of construction. The cross-laminated timber (CLT) comes from Estonian managed forests, and according to EcoLogicStudio, when combined with the effects of the algae, it means AirBubble will be carbon-negative during its life cycle.
Based on data collected by EcoLogicStudio, AirBubble has managed to reduce the level of air pollutants inside the structure so that it is within WHO safe limits.
Compared to outside the structure, there is a reduction in the peak level of fine particulate PM2.5, one of the core air pollutants, of between 78.6 and 85.7 per cent each week.
The structure's inverted conical roof membrane helps circulate air
This is all achieved through the algae cultures, which require harvesting once a week to reduce their concentration and to create room for new growth. Paasquer describes the system as "self-sufficient and very resilient".
"The great thing about nature-based solutions is that what for us is polluting for algae is food," she said. "So at the end of the cycle we are not left with a dirty filter to send to landfill such as in the case of typical mechanical filtering technologies."
"The pollutants are transformed into usable biomass, raw material for several bioproducts, such as biofibers, bioplastics, food supplements and natural cosmetics."
AirBubble is located in a public green space in Warsaw
Alongside the installation, the Copernicus Science Centre is hosting an exhibition explaining how AirBubble works, with interactive installations to educate and inspire children.
"There is untapped value in bringing the bio-intelligence of natural systems into cities, turning buildings into living machines that produce energy, store CO2 and clean the air," said EcoLogicStudio co-founder Marco Poletto.
"To achieve this, we need to think about the living world as a part of the current digital revolution: nature becomes part of a new bio-smart infrastructure."
EcoLogicStudio has also recently produced BioBombola, a grow-your-own edible algae kit for kids.
Photography by Maja_Wirkus.
The post EcoLogicStudio uses algae to purify air inside enclosed playground for children appeared first on Dezeen.
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Bit.Bio.Bot exhibition shows how algae can be used as air purifiers and protein source
EcoLogicStudio has designed the Bit.Bio.Bot exhibition at the Venice Architecture Biennale, which invites visitors to taste freshly harvested algae and consider growing it in their own homes.
Combining architecture and microbiology, the exhibition shows how city dwellers could purify the air, sequester carbon, gain a sustainable food source and enjoy a greater connection to nature by cultivating their own algae.
The Bit.Bio.Bot exhibition explores ways to live with and eat algae
Algae are powerful photosynthesisers and can consume more carbon dioxide than trees.
London-based EcoLogicStudio, which has been working with the ancient microbes for 10 years, describes them as having "a unique biological intelligence" because their metabolism is so efficient.
It features PhotoSynthEtica curtains, which purify the air
In its exhibition, it presents two architectural systems for harnessing this power through domestic-scale bioreactors — one in the form of "living cladding" that turns walls into air purifiers, and another in the form of a vertical garden that allows for algae farming.
Algae are among the most nutritious organisms on earth, and the two kinds that EcoLogicStudio are growing in Bit.Bio.Bot — spirulina platensis and chlorella — are already widely consumed as health supplements.
The curtains' pattern is informed by the surrounding brickwork
To explore their culinary potential, there is also a third installation, the Convivium, a table where people can gather to experiment with and taste the freshly harvested algae.
The table holds 36 unique pieces of crystal glassware, 3D-printed by Swarovski from EcoLogicStudio's design, with shapes that are based on the morphogenesis of microalgae cells.
There is also a vertical garden arranged on a steel structure
"The taste of spirulina is intense and by nature a bit salty," EcoLogicStudio co-founder Marco Poletto told Dezeen. "We worked with chefs to develop gels that could enhance the taste of spirulina and that could be drunk via the 3D glassware part of the Convivium."
"We really hope we will be able to let visitors taste it later on during this Biennale [once Covid safety restrictions are lifted]."
These feature BioBombola DIY kits for growing edible algae
The other two installations in the exhibition adapt two of EcoLogicStudio's existing product designs — the curtain-like PhotoSynthEtica cladding and the BioBombola DIY edible algae kit.
The PhotoSynthEtica cladding was created to cover new and existing buildings and serves as both a sunshade and photobioreactor that purifies the air. It contains algae in a biogel contained in digitally welded channels.
The Living Cladding section features 10 PhotoSynthEtica sheets that were specially made for this exhibit, with a pattern informed by the surrounding brick walls.
Within the space enclosed by the Living Cladding, there are 15 BioBombola units arranged on a three-metre-tall steel Vertical Garden structure that demonstrates how algae could be farmed at home or in urban facilities.
The Convivium table holds glasses of drinkable algae gel
Made of lab-grade borosilicate glass and 3D-printed bioplastic, each BioBombola produces up to 100 grams of edible algae a week, which EcoLogicStudio says equates to enough protein for a family of four.
The studio also estimates that each unit, containing 10 litres of microalgae cultures, absorbs as much carbon dioxide as three large mature trees. This "provides a clear path to carbon neutrality in architecture," according to the studio.
The 36 glasses are each unique
EcoLogicStudio's projects conceive architecture as a symbiotic organism, one where human and non-human organisms live together.
"The future of green technologies emerging from the landscapes of the post-anthropocene era is wet, soft and behavioural," studio co-founder Claudia Pasquero told Dezeen.
"Cities are evolving into intelligent super-organisms and shall become capable of searching for opportunities of co-evolution within the urban sphere, both for their human and non-human citizens."
They have been 3D printed by Swarovski
The Bit.Bio.Bot exhibition is so named because it combines computational design strategies (bit) with fabrication techniques (bot) to "implement a collective microbiological cultivation protocol" (bio).
It is part of the Venice Architecture Biennale's Arsenale venue, curated by Hashim Sarkis, and features in a section titled As New Households.
The exhibition is at the Arsenale venue of the Venice Architecture Biennale
The installations are fully reversible and have all found future homes in the community where they will go once the exhibition ends.
Photography is by Marco Cappelletti.
Bit.Bio.Bot will be on display at the Corderie, Arsenale as part of the Venice Architecture Biennale, which takes place from 22 May to 21 November 2021. SeeDezeen Events Guide for all the latest information you need to know to attend the event, as well as a list of other architecture and design events taking place around the world.
Project credits:
Project Team: Claudia Pasquero, Marco Poletto with Eirini Tsomouku, Oscar Villarreal, Claudia Handler, Korbinian Enzinger, Terezia Greskova, Alessandra Poletto, Emiliano Rando, Joy Bolois.
Academic partners: Synthetic Landscape Lab IOUD Innsbruck University, Urban Morphogenesis Lab BPRO The Bartlett UCL
With the additional support of: Innsbruck University, Swarovski, Ecoduna, Destination Wattens, anonymous donor
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