Mosskin

ROLE: DESIGNER, RESEARCHER

09/22 - present

Personal project with Wendy Meng

Instructor: Xuan Liu

ABOUT THE PROJECT

A new material that can purify the air and lower the temperature simultaneously to cool down the earth by covering these materials on street furniture.

01 CHALLENGE

Heat waves often lead to poor air quality

High atmospheric pressures capture polluted air above cities

Sun and heat transform primary pollutants into ozone and ultrafine particles

Heat increases power usage (air conditioning in buildings and cars), which in turn increases primary pollutants emissions

When Heat Waves Meet Air Pollution

The risk of death increased by about 6% on days with extreme high temperatures and by about 5% on days with high concentrations of fine particulate matter.
But risk approximately quadrupled on days when there was both extreme heat and high air pollution.

02 SITE

Lambeth

03 TARGET CUSTOMERS

Local Authority / Government

Industry is mostly supplied to or influenced by local authorities in UK.

"The provision, enhancement and management of green infrastructure is the central focus of London Plan policy."

London Plan Guidance

Air Quality Positive Draft

Air Quality Positive should be applied to large-scale development proposals subject to an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).

Using Green Infrastructure To Protect People From Air Pollution Guidance

Well considered use of green infrastructure may also form part of Air Quality Positive proposals and should be considered in line with this guidance.

Commercial

Restaurants and hotels accelerate product demand after pandemic.

In 2020, many cities closed indoor dining to curb rising COVID-19 cases. Opening outdoor dinning became the best can do.

"Now, alfresco dining has became permanent feature of some central London streets."

Westminster City

More than 80% of residents and businesses have voted in favor of making outdoor dining a permanent fixture.

Residential

Shift in urban spaces design: Now focusing on public spaces and communities.

Growing market for customized design, bike storage and smart furniture.

04 TECHNOLOGIES

Current Technologies

Plant-Based Technologies

Algae

When exposed to UV radiation from the sun, algae convert dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) into dimethyl sulfide (DMS), a sulfur compound that contributes to cloud formation when it enters the air, preventing solar radiation from reaching the earth's surface and reflecting it back into space, thereby lowering temperatures.

Moss

Mosses can grow and thrive in all kinds of relatively extreme weather conditions, they do not require a lot of water, and they can go through multiple hydration and rehydration cycles in their lifetime. Some mosses use ammonia as a nutrient. They can absorb and store large amounts of water and can have a considerable cooling effect on the temperature through evaporation.

House Plants

Effective only against indoor pollutants

Leaf Type

Scale

Needle

Broad

The PM capturing capacity of different plant species has been found quite different. Physical structural properties of plant leaf surface have been reported to provide favorable conditions for PM to be adhered to.

Species with wrinkled leaf surface normally shows a higher PM capturing capacity than those with a smooth leaf surface. Deep grooves and ridges on the leaf surfaces provide more room for PM to be intercepted and to embed, and less likely to be released by following wind.

Plant species with a rough and hairy surface prevent PM on the leaf surface from being blown away by the wind. These physical traits of leaf surface make a certain species effective PM accumulators.

Leaf surface hydrophilicity has also been reported to affect the capturing capacity of the roadside plants; high hydrophilic leaves usually possess a high PM capturing capacity.

Size-resolved particle deposition velocities for the different plant species.

05 BRAINSTORMING

Brainstorming

Divider Screens

Flexible Web

Fabric

Rod / Strut

Use Cases

Implementation / Attachment Methods

Wall

Bike Storage

Info Board

Chairs

Trash Bin

Trash Bin

Knots & Methods

Materials

Mosses can absorb water like a sponge.
Sphagnums can absorb up from 20-30 times their weight.
The materials used should be able to hold the weight, be resistant to outdoor environment,
and moss-friendly.

With Plants & Fake Plants

06 MATERIAL DEVELOPMENT

Research for Moss Growth

Moss Propagation

Organic & Inorganic fertilizer for moss propagation by fragments

Lactic

acid bacteria (LAB) as PGPMs(Plant growth promoting microorganism).

Fertilizer

provide

N-P-K

for

Up - Down - All

growth


Moss Maintenance

Nitrogen-fixing by cyanobacteria co-living with mosses

Example: N-fixing symbiosis between the ubiquitous feather moss and cyanobacterium (Nostoc sp.) that alone fixes between 1.5 and 2.0 kg N ha-1 yr-1 in mid- to late- successional forests of northern Scandinavia and Finland.

Research for Moss Anchoring

Rhizoids

Hairlike structures for anchoring the moss to rock, bark or soil.

Adhesive sulfated non-cellulose polysaccharides by rhizoid tips

Thigmotropic responses, coiling around objects

Forming discs or branching at their tips

Experiment

Step 1

The dried samples were cleaned from dirt and rehydrated by immersion in water, then accurately washed with running water to remove residual dirt.

Step 2

Moss samples are carefully cut into small pieces, for propagation purpose.

Step 3

A 1% agar solution was added to the rehydrated moss, with a moss to agar weight/volume ratio 1/2. The moss/agar mix was then blended in a laboratory blender.

Step 4

The moss paste was spread on the wool yarn, previously soaked in water and drained.

Evaluation

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