- Project Name : VERTO
- Client Name: Aga Khan Trust
- Location : Sundar Nursery Park, Near Humayun's Tomb, New Delhi
- Principal Architect(s) : Amit Gupta, Britta Knobel Gupta
- Year Built : 2022
- Photography: Avesh Gaur
Global air crisis
More than 99% of people living in urban areas are exposed to air quality
levels that exceed the World Health Organization (WHO) limits. Air pollution
has become a serious health issue across the globe.1 As urban air
quality declines, the risk of stroke, heart disease, lung cancer, and chronic
and acute respiratory diseases, including asthma, increases for the people who
live in them.2
Clean Air is essential for our health and well-being. The air we breathe
plays a crucial role in determining our quality of life and our overall health.
Design development and CFD
VERTO has been designed using the principals of aerodynamics, to create a form that propagates maximum surface area and increased
wind speed for a robust and efficient performance.
Simulation
studies were conducted to attain minimum
resistance and maximum surface area to achieve this optimum design. An
elliptical geometry has been designed as the starting point, as this gave us
the minimum resistance. The form was further developed by twisting the form,
this twist in geometry channels the wind along the surface of the tower in the
z direction, thereby exponentially increasing the surface area.
The rotation of the
tower was further developed using CFD analysis to ensure that clean air is not
getting mixed with unfiltered air being sucked at various levels. A part of the
CFD analysis was to ensure a 360 degree purification zone and maximum output of
clean air.
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The design of the tower consists of a triangulated component, to ensure ease of execution. Each component is tapered in to create a compression of wind and thereby further increasing the air being pushed in. The perforation pattern is designed as a performance driven system with bigger openings at inlet and outlet areas. This Gradient of openings also give the design of Verto a stark helical move accentuated with the perforation pattern.
Air Purification Capability
VERTO can clean about 600,000 cubic meters of air per day, which is
equivalent to an area twice the size of a cricket field with a height of 2
meters. The filtration tower is
equipped with energy-efficient fans that suck in the ambient air. The air is
then filtered using fine dust filters to remove fine dust particles (PM2.5,
PM10) containing pollutants from the ambient air sucked in.
Modular and Plug and Play and Materiality
Based on plug and play design, Verto can be shipped in flat pack state
and assembled on site with ease due this the modular nature of design. VERTO is designed using GRC panels to ensure
a long lasting and sustainable product.
Variable speed and IOT
A control system enables
the operation of the filter columns to be adjusted according to demand and thus
react to the current air quality. External sensors record air and weather data,
which are collected and evaluated in a cloud. This technology has been
available since 2018 and has been successfully implemented by German
governmental institutions to tackle pollution levels on some of the most
polluted traffic segments in rural areas to maintain the strict EU pollution
levels.
