daan roosegaarde's smog free tower opens in rotterdam

daan roosegaarde’s smog free tower opens in rotterdam
image courtesy of studio roosegaarde

on a very rainy day in the heart of rotterdam’s creative neighborhood, designboom came together with the dutch community from all around the city to see what daan roosegaarde and his studio were up to. starting out as an interactive artist, roosegaarde loves to create for the public space. with this latest project that he himself commissioned, roosegaarde aims to clean urban skies with one single piece of technology: the ‘smog free tower’.

daan roosegaarde presenting the ‘smog free tower’ 
image © designboom

roosegaarde and his team of experts have used patented ion technology to build a massive smog vacuum cleaner. the ‘smog free tower’ produces smog free bubbles of public space, allowing people to breathe and experience clean air for free. the seven meter high tower cleans 30.000 cubic meters of smog, uses no more electricity than a water boiler, and runs completely on sustainable green energy. 

the tower on display next to his studio in rotterdam
image courtesy of studio roosegaarde

to make sure nothing goes to waste, roosegaarde studio created jewelry of the collected smog particles. available through their kickstarter campaign, the rings and cufflinks are filled with carbon compressed into ‘diamonds’. the ‘smog free tower’ is not meant to stay in rotterdam, with plans to travel to some of the worst smog in the world. along with governments, NGOs and clean tech industries, daan has already scheduled the tower to visit beijing and mumbai. ‘I’m tired of waiting for policies’, explains roosegaarde. ‘I want to fix the problem now.’  

the upper panels open for cleaning 
image courtesy of studio roosegaarde

inside the tower
image courtesy of studio roosegaarde

three ion vacuums collect the smog 
image courtesy of studio roosegaarde

daan presenting the tower outside 
image © designboom

at night the tower lights up with LEDs
image courtesy of studio roosegaarde

in the studio, the team take the smog particles and forge cubes for the jewelry 
image © designboom

the tower façade 
image © designboom