andrea air purifier
image courtesy of véronique huyghe

designed by mathieu lehanneur and david edwards of harvard university, andrea is an air purifier
which uses indoor plants to filter air. originally known as bel air, the design has gone through
a number of tests in order to make it available to consumers with updated features.
it is said that the air we breathe in the places where we live and work can often be 5 to 10 times
more noxious than walking on the street, along with the dangerous chemicals found in
commonly used household products.

andrea is a response to counter our domestic pollution, by putting a green lung with enhanced
capacities to filter the air and capture toxic particles into our homes. it enables the de-pollution
of indoor air through the leaves and roots of the plant which is housed inside the unit.
the best performing plants are those which are actually quite common, including spath
or peace lily, red-edged dragon tree, spider plant and aloe vera.

andrea will be on show as part of brussels design september from september 18th to october 2nd
at designed in brussels. andrea will be available in shops starting in october.


air is filtered through the leaves and roots of the plant housed inside
image courtesy of mathieu lehanneur



common plants often give the best result
image courtesy of mathieu lehanneur


aloe vera plant housed inside andrea
image courtesy of mathieu lehanneur


image courtesy of mathieu lehanneur


technical diagram of how andrea works
image courtesy of mathieu lehanneur


below are some images of the air purifying unit's development
image courtesy of mathieu lehanneur


image courtesy of mathieu lehanneur


image courtesy of mathieu lehanneur