ACTIVE
SURFACES
Our site area was defined as twenty hectares. We imagined that area as a single surface, painted entirely in pollution-sequestering SUNSPACE, broken up and dispersed across Hackney Wick. In order to quantify its
effect, we analysed its effectiveness in comparison to the leaves of an English
oak tree. The rough calculations suggested that the project would have the same
effect as planting a forest of around 635 mature oak trees
–
all without ever touching
the ground.
ENGLISH OAK
Single leafQuercus Robur
A = 0.00315m2
SUNSPACE
Wet sampleSustainable materials Synthesized from by-Products
and Alginates for Clean air and better Environment
A = 0.0032m2
SEM image (x1800 magnification) of stomata on a rose leaf.
Transverse section of oleander leaf (Nerium oleander), showing stomatal crypts, whose narrow openings result in the immobility of airborne particles captured within.
Image sources: (1) Biophoto Associates/Science Source, accessed at sciencesource.com/archive/Rose-Leaf-Stomata-SS2811729.html; (2) SBS-UTEXAS, accessed at sbs.utexas.edu/mauseth/weblab/webchap10epi/10.3-10.htm.
SEM image of SUNSPACE after Fe3O4 nanoparticles capture.
SEM image of SUNSPACE showing macropores and mesopores, noted for their ink-bottle shape, highly effective at trapping particulate matter.
Image sources: (1) and (2) Zanoletti, A., Bilo, F., Federici, S., Borgese, L., Depero, L.E., Ponti, J., Valsesia, A., La Spina, R., Segata, M., Montini, T. and Bontempi, E. (2020) The first material made for air pollution control able to sequestrate fine and ultrafine air particulate matter. Sustainable Cities and Society, Volume 53, 2020, 101961. doi: 10.1016/j.scs.2019.101961.
MATURE ENGLISH OAK
200,000 leaves
20,000 LEAVES
1/10 of the canopy of an English Oak
200,000 LEAVES
Approximately 630m2
MATURE ENGLISH OAK
630m2