AirBird is a smart sensor that chirps to highlight indoor air pollution

GXN, the innovation arm of Danish architecture studio 3XN, has developed a twittering air-quality sensor that hopes to draw attention to the negative effects of air pollution within our homes and offices.

Called AirBird, it takes the shape and colour of the bright yellow canaries that used to be brought into coal mines to warn workers of carbon monoxide and other toxic gases. The birds were more sensitive to these and would become ill before the miners, giving them time to get out.

Similarly, the AirBird sensor works by measuring indoor carbon dioxide levels, which increase without proper ventilation as humans use up the available oxygen in a room and exhale it as CO2.

The AirBird can be placed on any surface or attached to the walls

Outdoor air generally has a carbon dioxide concentration of around 350 to 400 parts of CO2 per million particles of air, though this varies from area to area and increases in industrial and heavy-traffic areas.

But crowded or badly air-conditioned indoor environments can expose their inhabitants to levels of 1,000 parts per million (ppm), which has been shown to have a negative impact on our cognitive functioning and productivity.

GXN's solution takes the form of a small, battery-powered device shaped like an origami bird, which is equipped with precise optical sensors that continually measure the temperature, humidity and carbon dioxide in a room.

When the CO2 levels surpass a certain threshold, an algorithm activates a chirping sound or flashing light, designed to nudge the user to improve the air quality by opening the windows or moving to a different space.

"We spend 90 per cent of our time indoors, where we learn, work and live together," GXN architect and partner Lasse Lind told Dezeen.

"Often, indoor pollution affects us over a long period of time, so we don't necessarily detect the changes that happen to our wellbeing such as tiredness and a lack of concentration," he continued.

"Indoor climate is such a key factor in our lives but it's a tricky matter. It is quite literally the air that surrounds us. So we wanted to make the air around us visible and allow people to act and ensure better air quality for themselves and their families."

Created in collaboration with sensor specialist Leapcraft and window manufacturer Velux, the AirBird has been tested in a Danish public school for more than a year in order to inform an upcoming renovation.

"The data will be used to help identify opportunities to continuously improve and understand indoor air quality for new business models and valuation of buildings in operation," said Lind.

Previously, Chinese designer Huachen Xin attempted to make outdoor air pollution visible through an installation in which data gathered by car-mounted sensors was fed into a colour-changing Smog Shade.

In a bid to make this information even more accessible, San Francisco design studio NotAnotherOne has developed a portable air quality tracker that can be attached to bags or clothes.

Called Atmotube, this measures the presence of volatile organic compounds and particulate matter such as dust, soot or mould spores.

The post AirBird is a smart sensor that chirps to highlight indoor air pollution appeared first on Dezeen.

from Dezeen https://ift.tt/33Tylsf

Prefabricated Huaira cabin nestles within verdant farmland in Ecuador

Tetra Pak cladding shelters the prefabricated plywood structure of the Huaira cabin, which architects Diana Salvador and Javier Mera have built for themselves beside a river in Puerto Quito, Ecuador.
Hidden amongst dense vegetation on an orange, banana and cocoa farm, the rural cabin was designed by Salvador and Mera as a quiet retreat that would allow them to reconnect with nature.

Its structure and form are deliberately simple, recyclable and adaptable, ensuring it has a low environmental impact and retains focus on its natural setting.

Above: Huaira sits within a farm in Ecuador. Top image: it is elevated above the ground on gabions

"The mission, a specific need, a refuge outside the city, with contact with the essence of nature," Salvador told Dezeen.

"The purpose was to generate a peaceful place that offers continuous experimentation and stimulates a connection with the natural environment. It sounds a little bit romantic, but it is really sad it has been forgotten, just a few people know how beneficial nature can be."

The cabin has a prefabricated plywood structure and a Tetra Pak cladding

Huaira measures 40 square metres and has a distinctive pitched form containing two floors of living space. This includes a bathroom, a sitting room and a kitchen, and a small bedroom accessed by an alternating tread stair.

The bathroom is positioned at the front of the dwelling and features a shower encased by a glass box that projects from the cabin's facade, immersing users in nature as they bathe.

The shower projects from the cabin's front facade

The cabin's small size provides ample space for the family to stay there comfortably once a week while ensuring it can also be used as a holiday getaway for tourists on the other days.

"Our life is simple, and that is how the house is solved," added Salvador. "We use it to be at peace and for that purpose, it contains just necessary minimum areas."

The main structure is made from prefabricated plywood, elevated on stone-filled gabions. These gabions protect the house from heavy rain or the flooding of the adjacent river.

It is sealed with glass windows and a roof and cladding made from Tetra Pak in the form of corrugated sheets.

The plywood structure is exposed internally

The materials used to build the cabin were all chosen for their low-carbon footprint and to allow the dwelling to be completely recycled or reused at the end of its useful life.

Plywood was used for the main structure in recognition of its sequestered carbon, which the duo hopes will help offset the minimal carbon emissions of the building over its life.

Sequestered carbon is the amount of carbon dioxide that a tree removes from the atmosphere as it grows and subsequently stores as carbon.

Perforations in the walls facilitate cross ventilation

In order to limit the carbon consumption of Huaira when in use, Salvador and Mera designed its shell to facilitate natural ventilation – eliminating the need for air conditioning. This includes perforations in the walls that enable cross ventilation.

The roof also features a retractable layer that can be used to cover a skylight and limit the amount of direct sunlight reaching the interiors and in turn help to cool the cabin.

A bedroom is hidden on a small upper level

Architecture student David Guambo also recently completed a wooden cabin in rural Ecuador, which is elevated on stilts and used as his own studio.

In Quito, Ecuadorian studio El Sindicato Arquitectura built a 12-square-metre parasitic structure atop an existing building. Despite its small footprint, it has a bathroom, kitchen, bed, storage and space for eating, working and socialising, all within its 12-square-metre footprint.

Photography is by JAG Studio.

---

Project credits:

Architects: Diana Salvador, Javier Mera
Bioclimatic engineering: Grace Yépez, Nicolas Salmon
Structural engineering: Patricio Cevallos
Furniture: Juan Subía
Project coordinator and constructor: Diana Salvador

The post Prefabricated Huaira cabin nestles within verdant farmland in Ecuador appeared first on Dezeen.

from Dezeen https://ift.tt/3gusy1C

PORTS Table by Pearson Lloyd for Bene

Dezeen Showroom: Office furniture brand Bene has revealed its latest release by London studio Pearson Lloyd, the PORTS Table, an adaptable design for modern workplaces.

Pearson Lloyd designed the PORTS line, which contains a table, a lounge and a storage module, to be a multifunctional hub.

An electronic height adjustment mechanism can transform the table

"The market for executive offices and furniture is still defined in terms of hierarchy and old concepts of status, without considering the users’ needs; the market has not changed for over a century," Pearson Lloyd co-founder Tom Lloyd said.

"PORTS offers a new way to define what a private workspace looks like and how it functions."

A Power Tray on the PORTS Table

The studio focused on marrying innovation with design and functionality for the PORTS Table, which has a four-leg base that hides an electronic height adjustment mechanism.

This can swiftly transform the table from an executive table into a desk or a workstation, as well as a shared desk space or convenient meeting table where everyone from junior staff to executives has the same amount of space.

The PORTS Table also holds a Power Tray, which gives easy access to power and network connections.

Bene said the table, in combination with the lounge and storage modules, "promises inspiring collaborative work and productive interaction".

Product: PORTS Table
Designer: Pearson Lloyd
Brand: Bene
Contact: office@bene.com

About Dezeen Showroom: Dezeen Showroom offers an affordable space for brands to launch new products and showcase their designers and projects to Dezeen's huge global audience. For more details email showroom@dezeen.com.

The post PORTS Table by Pearson Lloyd for Bene appeared first on Dezeen.

from Dezeen https://ift.tt/3glYAMW

Alberese by Piero Lissoni for Boffi

Dezeen Showroom: Italian architect and designer Piero Lissoni has created the Alberese sofa for furnishing brand Boffi.

The modular sofa features deep seats and angled armrests for comfortable support while sitting or lounging.

Deep seats are designed for comfort

"Alberese is a sofa born from many reflections and then frozen in its essence," said Piero Lissoni.

"It has large cushions, it's comfortable and elegant at the same time."

Lissoni design Alberese to be "comfortable and elegant"

The modules are available as single and corner units, along with matching pouffes and a chaise lounge.

"The name Alberese comes from a very streamlined land, large and with very visible horizons just like the sofa," added Lissoni.

"A sofa that can be seen, but at the same time very low with great comforts and very special angles, at the confluence of design and architecture."

Product: Alberese
Designer: Piero Lissoni
Brand: Boffi
Contact: info@depadova.it

About Dezeen Showroom: Dezeen Showroom offers an affordable space for brands to launch new products and showcase their designers and projects to Dezeen's huge global audience. For more details email showroom@dezeen.com.

The post Alberese by Piero Lissoni for Boffi appeared first on Dezeen.

from Dezeen https://ift.tt/3mOjoiG

Art meets design in Visionnaire's latest furniture collection

Dezeen promotion: seven multidisciplinary creatives, including interior designer Alessandro La Spada, architect Mauro Lipparini and design duo Draga & Aurel, have contributed to the Beauty collection by Italian "metaluxury" furniture brand Visionnaire.

Spanning more than 60 new product families including seating, tables, lamps and accessories, the collection sees contributors play around with materials to create unique objects that toe the line between form and function, and art and design.

"Beauty is a word with an intense, multifaceted meaning," said the brand. "Besides indicating an outlook of positive energy and hope, the contemporary beauty narrated by Visionnaire sums up an attitude, that of creating extraordinary, unique projects and objects."

Alessandro La Spada's Arkady dining table features a lower shelf made of Crema Marfil stone

As the brand explains, its "meta-luxury" design language is reflected in the materials it uses, which are sustainable and responsibly sourced.

This includes leather that would otherwise be discarded as a by-product, as well as recyclable textiles comprising polyester threads that have been made from recycled plastic bottles.

"Constant technological research, experimentation with materials, the juxtaposition and mixing of elements, the hands of our craftsmen that test, perfect and define a new material solution: these are the factors that go into every single product, making it unique, inimitable, yet reproducible," said Eleonore Cavalli, Visionnaire's art director.

The Douglass sofa features metal borders at the base of its armrests

The brand's latest Beauty collection includes the Arkady dining table by Alessandro la Spada, which features an oval glass top that reveals views of a lower shelf made from irregularly cut, gently marbled Crema Marfil stone.

"The slab of Crema Marfil stone is crafted by hand to add a unique and precious value," said Visionnaire. "This is thanks to bas-relief workmanship, irregular borders and the inclusion of artistic resins and Himalayan salt."

Its brass legs are cast in sand to create an organic, hammered texture, bringing the beauty of nature into a man-made design.

La Spada's other designs include the Douglass sofa, which is upholstered in soft, white leather with arch-shaped cut-outs at the base of its armrests, and the Egmont low tables.

"The big news on the use of marble concerns some new processing techniques that, by exploiting the natural veins of the stone, guarantee unprecedented and extremely natural results," said Visionnaire.

"This includes one called Galuchat, which, through the micro-relief of the thinner veins, makes the stone like a living organism," the brand added.

Draga & Aurel's Amos table features a concrete base

Based in the town of Como, on the banks of the titular lake, Draga & Aurel contributed a console table, a low table, a dining table and a family of lamps.

The Amos dining table features a dark, concrete base that was treated to mimic the natural effect of erosion.

This cylindrical base is embraced by two metal cuffs that were cast in moulds before adding sand to create a texture reminiscent of the surface of the moon. The table is topped by a circular, six millimetre-thick piece of glass.

Shiny metal and dark concrete are contrasted in the Lego table

The Lego table is made from these same, opposing materials, with each used to form an interlocking unit consisting of one leg and half a tabletop.

These are then slotted together like Lego bricks to create one complete, functional table.

"'Lego' has a double meaning in Italian; it means 'to join' but it also recalls the famous game that brought together the childhood of countless children, including that of the designers," said Visionnaire.

The Sputnik lights resemble "metal origami"

Informed by retro-futurism, the Sputnik wall and pendant lamps are named after the world's first artificial satellite and feature LED strips embedded into brass tubes.

Strung up on these tubes are folded, rhombus-shaped sheets resembling "metal origami", which reflect the light emanating from behind.

Mauro Lipparini's Montparnasse sofa features a metal base with decorative leather straps

Architect and designer Mauro Lipparini contributed a series of living room pieces, including the Montparnasse sofa, which features plump, rounded upholstery.

The upper part of the sofa's backrest doubles up as a headrest when tilted upwards.

Meanwhile the Imagine armchair plays with the contrasting textures of soft Nubuck upholstery, a lacquered, glossy wooden frame and subtle gold-coloured detailing running along the front of the legs.

The designer's Imagine armchair features Nubuck upholstery

Each of the products in the Beauty range focus on incorporating sustainable materials – an objective that the brand has prioritised since 2017, with the launch of its Greenery collection.

Since then the brand has aimed to use its products to create "increasingly natural, healthy spaces that embody principles of respect for the environment and animals."

The entire collection is currently on show at Visionnaire's flagship store in Milan, set up as nine complete rooms.

For more information about the collection and a behind the scenes video of it being made, visit Visionnaire's website.

The post Art meets design in Visionnaire's latest furniture collection appeared first on Dezeen.

from Dezeen https://ift.tt/3otOug0