Clearing the air

Daan Roosegaarde's research focuses on developing a giant "electronic vacuum cleaner" that can suck smog from Beijing's skies. [Photo provided to China Daily]

A Dutch designer aspires to develop a massive electromagnet to trap Beijing's smog. While many argue it's more of an artistic statement than a practical solution, the notion demonstrates creativity in tackling pollution, Erik Nilsson reports.

Dutch designer Daan Roosegaarde dreams of building a giant "electronic vacuum cleaner" to suck smog from Beijing's skies.

According to his vision, the world's largest air purifier could also turn a 1-kilometer-diameter ring of poisonous haze into a 1-centimeter-diameter ring of condensed particulate people can wear.

After the massive electromagnet captures the particulate, it could be compacted with an industrial press or mixed with adhesive to fashion jewelry, he believes.

"The smog ring is one example of many possibilities," he says.

While smog is toxic to inhale as particulate, he claims it would be safe to wear on a person's finger as concentrate.

These seemingly sci-fi innovations have a long way to go before feasibility.

But Roosegaarde has already developed an indoor prototype and hopes to install the first machine in a Beijing park within a year.

"We've been working on a series on interactive landscapes," says the designer, whose previous creations include dance floors that produce electricity from the people heaving atop them and "smart highways" that generate their own light.

The vacuum concept dawned on Roosegaarde while gazing out a Beijing hotel window, he says.

"I saw the CCTV building," he tells Dezeen Magazine. "I had a good day when I could see it, and I had a bad day when I could not see it. On a bad day, the smog is completely like a veil. You don't see anything. I thought: That's interesting. That's a design problem."