A giant air purifier is to be installed in a park in Kraków, Poland as part of an exhibition challenging our views on air pollution.
The Smog Free Project is a huge seven-foot air purifier created by Dutch designer Daan Roosegaarde and has been touring the world for the last two years.
The Smog Free Tower is able to clean the air around the park at a rate of 30,000 cubic metres per hour and yet only uses the same amount of electricity as a water boiler.
The tower took three years to develop and is able to filter out the particularly harmful particles known as PM2.5. These ultra fine particles are created by cars, tires and even trains and can become lodged deep within the lungs.
Kraków is by no means the first place that Smog Free Tower has been put to use. Last year the tower completed a tour of China where it was shown to reduce air pollution by up to 55% in the surrounding area.
While its functional use is clear, Roosegaarde also designed the purifier as a centrepiece for raising awareness around air pollution.
As such the fine carbon particles that are collected by tower can then be condensed and turned into tiny cubes of ‘air pollution’ which can then be bought.
Smog Free Tower isn’t the only large-scale attempt at tackling air pollution in public places.
Green City Solutions have created a ‘smart tree’ that can not only purify the air around it but acts as a state-of-the-art air quality sensor for large public spaces.
Rolled out across Paris, Berlin and other cities, these large artificial hedges use moss to scrub the either indoor or outdoor air naturally while then feeding real-time air pollution data to local authorities.