Breathing is such an automated bodily function that it doesn’t even occur to us to think about what we are actually inhaling. Fine dust is not seen by the human eye but we very well know when that same speck of dust goes in our eye, it wreaks havoc. Similarly, for any living organism to be breathing in fine dust is harmful because at the moment we won’t see its effects and it will keep accumulating to cause big trouble later. Humans can still comprehend this and take precautions, but what about plants? With the growing trend of urban and city farming, fine dust can be a dampener on our sustainable efforts and overall health.
This conceptual Dyson air purifier, Ventila, is specifically designed to combat the fine dust problem in city farms. Ventila’s aim is to improve the ventilation system in these farms to create a healthier environment that results in a quality crop – pesticides are not the only toxins we consume and we must learn to be more aware of where we source our food from. Ventila has a simple but effective mechanism, it creates a barrier by merging vapor with fine dust. When both combine, the mere weight of the particle makes it drop to the ground with the water. Condensation but now it wears a cape!
The Ventila prototype was created to see how effective this method will be, to understand the results better, there has to be a number attached to the impact which the experiment provides. The water rises through a pipe in the ventilator and 12 pumps are used to convert it into water vapor. This water vapor is evenly dispersed using the basic working module of a humidifier. The prototype was tested and was found to keep 95% of fine dust particles at bay which instantly improves the quality of the plant’s health (and invariably ours) by A LOT. The build is made to be as transparent as possible so the farmers can see the health of the device too and maintain it well. We can wear masks but plants can’t, so let’s make design inclusive for all living organisms.
Designers: DeokYoun Kim, John Park, and Fountain Studio.
