The Cleanest and Greenest Work Desk Grows Fresh Air
June 21, 2013 by Robin Plaskoff Horton
Inside a massive building on the outskirts of one of the world’s most polluted cities, the air is clean — all thanks to three plants and one man.
Kamal Meattle is an Indian researcher whose lung capacity became severely impaired due to pollution in New Delhi. Driven to find a solution, he discovered that by placing certain plants in specific locations indoors, a building can actually grow fresh air. Meattle gave a TED talk on the phenomenon back in 2009.
Once employed, Meattle’s Delhi project significantly reduced eye irritation, respiratory symptoms, headaches and asthma among people working in the building.
What’s more, the idea inspired Julio Radesca, an industrial design student at the Design Academy Eindhoven in The Netherlands. Late last year, Radesca created what some have called “glorified cubicles” employing the same three-plant technique for growing fresh air as Meattle did in New Delhi. Appropriately, Radesca named his project Personal Fresh Air.
The concept is an attractive, minimalist desk with a plant-trimmed top. The three plants used by both Meattle and Radesca are Areca Palm, which converts carbon dioxide to oxygen, Mother-in-Law’s Tongue, which does the same during the night, and Money Plant, which removes formaldehydes and similarly volatile airborne chemicals.
While the plants grow fresh air, they also provide privacy for each desk, replacing cubical walls. And because the desks are hydroponic and soil-less – they feature lightweight perlite instead – watering and cleanup times are drastically reduced. Efficiency, beauty and sustainability? That’s a work concept we can get behind.
Category: Container Gardening, Green & Sustainable, Greening, Hydroponics, Indoor Gardening, Outdoor Furniture
Tags: indoor plants filter air, natural air filter, natural air freshener, plants clean air, plants filter air
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Flowerona Links: With delphiniums, sugar & a peony or two... | Flowerona Pingback said:
[…] cleanest, greenest desk which grows fresh […]
— June 22, 2013 @ 19:01
WOW! A healthy way to work, and a breath of clean thinking, too. Plants unstress those who are “thinkers of great ideas”, that pays back two-fold!
— June 23, 2013 @ 18:09
Now if the plants could only do my paperwork….
— June 24, 2013 @ 12:34
Plants at the office are great. We call this cubicle gardening. http://www.yourbrandpartner.com/promo-insights/diy-office-cubicle-gardening
— June 28, 2013 @ 09:57
Strange though– the original NASA air-cleaning plant research by Wolverton showed that the area of the plant between the lower stems and the soil/root line was crucial for absorbing pollutants, due to the microbes that thrived in the exposed soil (symbiotic with the plant’s root system). The microbes were essential in the chemical-reducing process. I wonder how much of the pollutant-reducing ability of the plants was reduced by the soil-less design of these desks.
— January 11, 2014 @ 22:34
We do it on the similar way with just 2 polluSan Systems per Desk according to the NASA-Study of Prof.Wolverton.
— January 13, 2014 @ 21:25
Grow For the Glow: Desktop Hydroponic Garden Doubles as Lamp - Urban Gardens Pingback said:
[…] Using hydroponics, light, and 100% recyclable materials, Grasslamp combines gardening and modern design elements including a power saving lamp to bring nature right on to your desktop. […]
— July 31, 2016 @ 15:32
Interview: Architecture Student Designs Smart Home of the Future With On-site Food Production - Urban Gardens Pingback said:
[…] it would be used to monitor the plants and support the home, not control it. Certain species of plants can clean the air, the water, and grow food…all of which require certain degrees of sunlight, humidity, […]
— August 8, 2022 @ 10:01