OAZO

Air is all around us at all times. It is a foundation for life; most of the time, we do not even think about it. However, we notice the impact of air quality, for example, when the air we breathe is particularly good or bad.

How can air have a positive effect on people, cities and the climate?

Oazo uses solar power generated through its roof to run two filtering systems that purify the polluted air. As a product family, Oazo offers three different sizes adaptable to every street situation. They are self sufficient and due to that easy to install and maintain.

idea & vision

Solar energy has a huge potential. In this project the emphasis should not only be on harvesting energy but on the possibilities solar energy provides us. Why not use it to make a difference? Why not use it to counteract one impact of human life? Why not improve air quality and clean it from emissions?

It could be a small solution that is placed on top of existing infrastructure. Each device only helps on a small scale but using mutliple devices creates a system that can have a big impact. Thus reducing air pollution.

usage context

A little further into the project, the question of dimension came up. Would it not show the potential of solar power even more if it was bigger and usable? Could it not have a function and explore possibilities as urban furniture that items without solar self sufficieny lack?

How could that look like? What type of furniture could it be? What objects use urban space at the moment?

scenario three: Kabelverteilerkasten.jpg

Exploring the occupation of urban space, three scenarios were especially inspirational:

- bus stop

- Litfaßsäule

- Kabelverteilerkasten

From those three usage scenarios first models developed that lead to an important decision in the design process. All three ideas should become a member of a product family that follows the same shape language. That way it can be used in different situations and becomes adjustable to needs in public space.

With this developement an emphasis was placed on the user interaction. Suddenly, it became important how the system was percieved and could be used on a personal level. This user journey is a first idea of how interactions could look like.

Oazo should be a place where people can sit down, take a break and breathe in fresh air. It should be relaxing and push the city around out of focus, like an oasis in public space.

technology

Air pollution in cities mainly consists of fine particles and different organic compounds, mostly ozone, nitrous gases, sulfur dioxide and carbon oxides. Most of them are also greenhouse gases which means that by reducing them in cities there would also be an reduction in earths atmosphere.

Different existing filteringy systems are already able to clean the air from the particles and combounds mentioned above. This modell shows the results of the research. Additionaly, in order to understand how the filters actually work, a common air filter was dismantled and deconstructed.

Combining the collected knowledge, the functional process - as shown in the blue print - was developed.

Fine particles can be filtered by HEPA-filters and orgnaic compounds by charcoal absorbers. While other organic compounds are removed, carbon dioxide emerges. It is afterwards absorbed in a second filtering system.

A turbine powered with solar energy runs the air through the filtering systems. To provide the turbine with energy at all times, batteries store the spare energy during the day.

form finding - pillars

How can the idea of an oasis in a city be implemented in the appearance? What elements are needed to explain that OAZO is a source for clean and fresh air?

This can be achieved by creating connotations like plants and nature. Looking for inspiration three topics were found which should be implemented in the design of the pillars and the roof:

- plantlike/ organic shapes

- shades of green and blue

- wood

To implement this thought, the pillars should open up at the top creating an idea of branches or leaves. Two options were tested.

The second idea was developed further because it kept the cylindric shape. That way it can accommodate the technology. The intersections of the eliptic perforations at the front and the back together resemble the shape of leaves.

After trying several different perforations, linear aligned perforations fit best because of the intersection's resemblance with leaves. In order to make it a little less linear, each line of ellipses has different intervals between the ellipses that are closer to the bottom.

This design was then adjusted to the different sizes. The pillars' cladding is made of metal. Their surface on the ouside have a dull dark green colour. Inside they are of a shiny lighter green to amplify the effect of the intersections. The light that flows through the transparent roof will illuminate the pillars' inside even more.

form finding - roof

The shadow of the roof should create the impression of a tree's shadow. In this experiment different combinations of shade spending layers were compared: one transparent green layer and several layers with dots of different transparencies. Those dots would be solar panels or shade spending elements.

The second thing of interest during this experiment was the appearance of the roof itself. How does it look when looking through from underneath?

The chosen two layers should be a layer of transparent foil and semi transparent dots. Together they create a relaxing green shadow which varies in darkness, brightness and depths.

The transparent foil are the solar modules in a transparent green. The semi transparent circles could be pieces of glass. They still need futher elaboration, e.g. they could also include LEDs to illuminate OAZO in the night.