This self-driving electric car sets new landmark for automotive design by cleaning up air pollution!

Posted on 19/04/2021 by Shawn McNulty-Kowal

Eco-friendly cars have many different faces: hybrid, electric, diesel, and biodiesel. Coming from the same studio that brought the Vessel to New York City’s Hudson Yards, Heatherwick Studio has conceptualized an autonomous electric car that goes further than reducing fossil fuel pollutants. Airo, Heatherwick Studio’s new concept electric car runs on electric power and actively cleans up the air when driven.

Airo comes complete with a state-of-the-art HEPA filtering system that removes fine particles from the air it drives through, edging the electric car’s green initiative even further. HEPA filters, or high-efficiency particulate air filters, are mechanical air filters that remove fine air particles measuring 0.3-microns in diameter. Airo’s HEPA filter is located in the vehicle’s undercarriage, where pollution from the air passes through and filters out, leaving the air around Airo that much cleaner.

In addition to its embedded air-filtering system, Airo’s interior has a versatile configuration that can be altered to form multi-functional spaces specifically designed for today’s progression toward a mobile lifestyle. Inside, Airo’s seats are fully rotational to form social spaces centered around the car’s four-leaf table that unfolds to create a lounge-like booth and folds away when driving. A collapsible screen can also morph the inside of the car into a pod for gaming after long drives. Settling into the night, Airo’s seats fully recline to form a cozy double bed, and the electric car’s transparent, glazed roof turns opaque when you’re ready for lights-out.

Slated for production in 2023, Airo is designed for IM Motors and runs as a fully electric vehicle equipped with autonomous and self-driving modes. Whenever you’d like to turn Airo’s interior into a dining booth or lounge area, the driving is taken care of through smart technology. Constructed from weathered steel, Heatherwick Studio designed a charging station for IM Motors that will become an integral piece of city infrastructure for the future of electric vehicles.

Designer: Heatherwick Studio

Airo’s smiling exterior combines a minimal grille with a sinuous design.

The electric car dons its roof and facades with a jet-black finish, while its wheels feature a radial scheme that echoes its front and rear.

With self-automated driving capabilities, Airo’s interior can be transformed into a social hub thanks to its fully rotational front seats.

When the driving day is done, Airo’s inside can morph into a spacious double bed that enhances any mobile lifestyle.

Planned as city infrastructure, Heatherwick Studio created charging stations that mimic the structure of foxtail agave plants and streetlamps.

A radio for the open-minded!

Posted on 05/04/2018 by Sarang Sheth

The Airo is an avant-garde radio that destroys the misconceptions that technology and information should be personalized.

Airo is an experimental radio that reads tweets out to you. Using Arduino controllers and Twitter’s API, the Airo fetches tweets and translates text to speech, reading them out like the headlines on a radio. Built with a vertical volume controller at its base, and a knob that lets you select the type of tweet, you can have a stream of news, tech, or music related tweets. A fan at the back acts as a metaphorical horizon widener, allowing you to access tweets from a wider area. Open the fan out more, and the Airo fetches tweets from a larger radius.

Designed in and for an era where most news we consume is customized and designed to suit and strengthen our own bubble of beliefs and ideologies, the Airo aims to be a product that looks at information agnostically, delivering tweets to you without filtering or customizing them, and allowing you to physically and mentally broaden horizons! In short, Airo doesn’t use cookies to provide an optimized experience. Airo keeps it real. Be like Airo.

Designers: Varenya Raj, Yuxi Liu, Surojit Dey, & Sindhu Mandari.

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Why Purify Partially?

Posted on 23/01/2018 by Troy Turner

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“Fine dust” doesn’t sound so menacing – in fact, it almost sounds like something you’d see trailing a cartoon fairy – but believe me when I say it’s nothing cute. Fine dust refers to particles smaller than 10 micrometres in diameter, which accumulate directly in the lungs. Long-term exposure can cause breathing difficulties or, even worse, seizures. This is one particular area where air purification comes in handy.

Designed with this in mind, the Airo purifier packs not 1 but 2 HEPA filtration systems into one unit to expand the cleaning range. The modular design adapts to different layouts, ensuring you have more than just one room that’s safe for breathing. Simply twist off the top unit and place it in any room you plan on spending more time in. Better yet, the design utilizes an innovative air-moving method that ensures air is being circulated and purified from ceiling to floor and not just vertically. The result is more thorough so you can breathe easy in any corner!

Designer: Dain Kim

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