BREATHE

What it does

Ventilation! BREATHE was developed as a passive and sustainable ventilation solution to improve indoor air quality in small living spaces and to meet the needs of the growing Tiny House community. Why? Because it turned out that having windows is not enough.

Your inspiration

Indoor air quality is an invisible and often underestimated health risks that can have serious consequences. On average, we spend 90% of our lives indoors, while indoor air pollution is, in extreme cases, 25 times more harmful than the air outside. This is mainly caused by organic substances such as mold that quickly develops in small rooms due to humidity. But even everyday life generates particles from combustion by cooking or the formation of dust that quickly add up to a critical amount. This and the fact that ventilation only by opening windows is often too irregular, especially in winter, was the starting point of the proposal.

How it works

BREATHE is a window-type installation that takes up little space. Apart from the control system, the concept does not require electricity to generate its internal airflow thanks to the use of the chimney effect created by natural temperature differences alone. The structure provides outlets for the inside and outside that are placed at the base and head of the product. Slats, mounted between, can be stretched to different degrees and are enclosed sideways in a thin glass chamber that gets heated through solar radiation. Warm air rises and creates an airflow that controls the exchange of air between the outside and inside in a targeted manner. When the slats are under tension, the pull effect is increasing, which provides better ventilation in the summer. In winter, the slats can be loosened again, giving them the freedom to move in the wind. This significantly slows down the airflow so that incoming air can be preheated by the stored solar energy.

Design process

At the beginning of the project, a wide variety of Tiny House communities were visited and studied to accurately define the circumstances and actual problems. Besides the basic issue with air quality and unreliable ventilation through windows, it also became clear that the dream of these people is to be completely free from the grid. So for the design, it was essential to find a method that works only with natural forces. The function is therefore nature-driven. Passive heat through solar radiation and wind generating effects were researched to finally come up with the final principle. The visual component, i.e. the communication of the air currents, was also derived from movement patterns found in nature. Sub-aspects were then investigated in the laboratory, such as heat generation through infrared radiation. Finally, the ergonomics were tested using mock-ups, as it was necessary to ensure that the generated movement of the slats would not cause visual stress and that the operation would be intuitive.

How it is different

The big difference is the lack of an electric fan, which is typically installed in ventilation systems. Another focus was the positioning and consequently the expressiveness of the design. Where other solutions prefer to hide, BREATHE stands out confidently so that the issue of indoor air quality gets the attention it desperately needs.

Future plans

First experiments could only check parts of the function so far, therefore the next big step is a complete experimental setup that further verifies the concept. To optimize efficiency, adjustments should then be made based on these results.

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