Filtering Fungi
Public Air Filtration
I asked myself; where does the smoke go during a wildfire?
Hover here!
California Wildfires have a massive effect on the entirety of the United States. Smoke maps show how badly carbon monoxide spreads throughout the country with just one California wildfire.
Human Effects - Wildfires are the cause of about 50% of PM 2.5 in the U.S. , PM 2.5 is fine particulate from the ash in the air which causes lung and heart complicatons
Environmental Effects - 110 million metric tons of carbon monoxide is produced with one fire! this is like 20 million cars polluting at once.
Wildfires kill around 500 elderly per one fire. I knew this was a problem that needed a solution
FUNCTION AND FORM IDEATION
Hover here!
I began to think about a large scale solution to this issue. After some research I designed this mass air filtering unit. utilizing reusable HEPA filters the filter is able to clean around 2,500 Sqft of polluted air a minute.
I wanted to keep my forms simple to be able to manufacture them as easily as possible
Once I figured out the basic engineering aspects, I was able to then think about a form which would blend in with any environment. taking inspiration from mushrooms and trees in California's forests helped motivate my form.
INTERACTIVE DESIGN: To approach a sustainable brand and explain why these need to be placed in walkways in highly populated and polluted areas of the U.S.
STAND ALONE COMPANY: a crowd funded design for southern California which would then slowly spread throughout the U.S.
COMMUNITY ART PROJECT CONCEPT: a fundraiser is run and the donators of the fundraiser will be reserved a spot on the filtration tree for their own mosaic art
I also had to think about; who and how will I fund this project?
CONCEPT IDEATION
After speaking with my professor for reference and doing more research on public areas I went with the direction of the interactive design.
I was researching the most commonly populated and polluted areas in which would be best to place them.
Finding the form was helped by the unity of the eco-system of the mushrooms I was looking at for inspiration.
RAPID PROTOTYPING
After the prototyping process it helped me understand how I can work out the final configuration of the internal vacuum mechanism.
I wanted to push the limits of how much mechanical engineering I was capable of.
HAND RENDERING
Sustainability was one of the largest concerns in this projects, so I wanted to make sure that this was something built to last and out of materials that do not pollute overtime. This label would be placed on every model visible to the public walking by.