Air Shield Multifunctional Workstation by Jung Joo Sohn and Barbara Young |
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| DESIGN NAME: Air Shield PRIMARY FUNCTION: Multifunctional Workstation 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. UNIQUE PROPERTIES / PROJECT DESCRIPTION: 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. OPERATION / FLOW / INTERACTION: 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. PROJECT DURATION AND LOCATION: The project was started in May of 2020 in the United States of America and substantially completed in July with continual updates and revisions. FITS BEST INTO CATEGORY: Office Furniture Design |
PRODUCTION / REALIZATION 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. SPECIFICATIONS / TECHNICAL PROPERTIES: 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 RESEARCH ABSTRACT: 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. 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. ADDED DATE: 2021-02-28 22:57:42 TEAM MEMBERS (2) : Jung Joo Sohn and Barbara Young IMAGE CREDITS: Jung Joo Sohn and Barbara Young, 2020. |
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NAME: Purdue University PROFILE: Purdue University was founded in 1869 under the Morrill Act of 1862. John Purdue, a local merchant, gave $150,000 to begin the University. Tippecanoe County gave $50,000 and local residents gave 100 acres for the new university. The Indiana State Legislature agreed to name the new school Purdue in gratitude to its largest benefactor. The new university began classes on September 16, 1874 with six instructors and 39 students. Currently, Purdue University has an enrollment of over 41,000 undergraduate (75%) and graduate students (23%). Approximately 2,000 full-time faculty teach and conduct research in Purdue's 157 principle buildings with 377 total buildings on 2,307 acres. Purdue University's schools include: agriculture; consumer and family science; education; engineering; liberal arts; management; pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences; nursing; science; technology; and veterinary medicine. Purdue offers 6,700 courses in 200 specializations. For more than a quarter century, Purdue University has been the largest or second largest in undergraduate engineering enrollment in the country. Purdue research exceeds $347.1 million a year using more than 400 research labs. The University's decentralized 14 library system contains over 2.3 million volumes of information, including a substantial psychology library that has merged with the Humanities, Social Sciences, and Education library located in Stewart Center. Purdue University is committed to fostering and maintaining an inclusive community that values the inherent worth and value of every person. A few notable policies highlight this commitment and are found below. |
| AWARD DETAILS | |
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Air Shield Multifunctional Workstation by Jung Joo Sohn and Barbara Young is Winner in Office Furniture Design Category, 2020 - 2021.· Press Members: Login or Register to request an exclusive interview with Jung Joo Sohn and Barbara Young. · Click here to register inorder to view the profile and other works by Jung Joo Sohn and Barbara Young. |
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