Air Shield Postazione di Lavoro Multifunzionale

Press Kit

Unique Properties

Air Shield is an attachable dual fan and filter system which serves to purify air and protect desk occupants by blocking pathogen transmission with air currents. Fan systems filter a variety of air impurities, good for mitigating pathogen transmission and reducing allergies, as well as providing mild white noise for acoustic privacy in open office systems.

Dimensions & Packaging

Air Shield is 57” wide, 31.10” deep, and 28.50” tall. The fan unit is held 0.5” off of the work surface by an adjustable clamp. Air Shield can be attached to any work surface over 57” wide, but it is illustrated on a custom-designed, adjustable height workstation that is 31.10” deep and can adjust between 28.5” - 42.00” high.

Tags

Workstation Design, Workplace Design, COVID-19, Air Purification, Air Flow, Air Curtains, Invisible Partitions, Fan Systems

Production Technology

The Air Shield housing is made of extruded aluminum with perforations and molded plastic end caps which are removable for ease in changing the primary air filter. Air Shield uses a dual-fan system to filter and circulate air. The outer fan blades are made of HEPA filters with customized Germ Defense material to purify the air. The inner fan is made from plastic. Both fans run on a motor. The steel screw-clamp is fitted with rubber pads to protect work surfaces.

Design Challenge

The inception of this project was to challenge the use of partitions for safely separating people during the COVID-19 pandemic. The team speculated that after the pandemic had subsided, screens and partitions used to provide physical separation would be removed and sent to landfills, causing harm to the environment. Additionally, mixed recommendations about materials were presented fueled by research that showed the virus lived longer on hard surfaces which are, of course, easier to clean. The team was challenged to consider a workable solution that had benefits and uses beyond the COVID-19 crisis. The biggest challenge in working on this project was that the world was learning about the virus and how to mitigate transmission during the design process. Many theories were proposed, and adopted by government officials, based on known science but there was not enough time to deeply study the behavior of the virus in different conditions. The filtration fan system was developed to purify air. Existing filters are mainly designed to work with vertical fan circulation and are large in diameter. Using this type of filter would result in an imposing fan system on the desk. The compact size of the fan was maintained by combining the filter and fan function.

Research

Air Shield is the product of a cross-discipline collaboration between a product designer and interior designer to explore resilient, non-temporal, solutions that mitigate the spread of pathogens in workplace environments. Considering a product with potential uses and benefits during and after the COVID-19 pandemic was a primary goal. The team reviewed existing design recommendations for office solutions that mitigate COVID-19 transmission and compared those to global workforce surveys which aggregated perceptions of working-from-home, the desire to return to the office, and perceived obstacles of both. Findings from workforce surveys indicated a continued desire for face-to-face collaboration, especially for those who experience difficulties working from home. Respecting that many companies recently moved through extensive change-management projects to promote social settings, visibility, and interaction in the workplace, flexibility with existing furniture systems and maintaining social aspects of company culture became additional drivers to the solution. Indoor air quality with increased ventilation and air filtration also presented as being of high importance for health, safety, and well-being in interior environments. As such, product ideation began around concepts of on-demand fresh air or filtration systems. The team drew inspiration from healthcare and warehouse environments where air curtains are used to control and contain harmful interior particulates. The final flexible solution provides a sense of safety for people working at their desk environment by helping to contain the spread of airborne pathogens with added “white-noise” acoustical benefits.

Inspiration

Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, people should maintain physical distance to protect each other. The layout of the modern office, however, depends on space efficiency and communication with other co-workers. The goal of this project is to consider how employees can stay visibly connected while remaining protected in existing workspace layouts and consider how to use the solution sustainably after the corona pandemic.

Project Duration

The project was started in May of 2020 in the United States of America and substantially completed in July with continual updates and revisions.

Operation Flow

Air Shield is easily installed and removed with two screw clamps. A simple push-button operation on the lower right-hand side of the unit powers on/off the Air Shield fan. Motion sensors detect when other people are present to start the air-flow. For example, if someone is sitting on the left side, Air Shield detects them and activates the air curtain from the left side.