Architects: Daryan Knoblauch
Area: 200 m²
Year: 2023
Photographs: José Hevia
Lead Designer: Daryan Knoblauch
Supported: Fundació Mies van der Rohe
City: Barcelona
Country: Spain
Free Air, designed by Daryan Knoblauch in Barcelona, is a pavilion dedicated to exploring air and its importance to human health. Its photocatalytic-coated, reflective surface purifies the surrounding air by capturing pollutants like NO2, addressing urban pollution’s invisible threats. As a research-by-design project, Free Air uses light, scalable, and reversible materials, with features such as mirrors, solar panels, and water collectors enhancing its interaction with the environment. The pavilion displays air quality data through LED tickers and screens, while hosting interdisciplinary presentations. Constructed for the Architecture Festival Model, it facilitated discussions on architectural design’s future.
Free Air is a public gathering structure designed by architect Daryan Knoblauch, dedicated to the element that links cosmic dust to the air we breathe.
Free Air is conceived as a performative infrastructure that enhances Barcelona’s environment through its reflective surface, which captures NO2 from the air. The installation draws attention to the invisible nature of air, encouraging people to observe, measure, and understand this vital resource, now threatened by man-made pollution and impacting public health. Its photocatalytic-coated texture purifies and improves air quality wherever it’s located, establishing a gathering space for current and future generations.
The pavilion is envisioned as a research-by-design project, utilizing various material strategies. Its design emphasizes lightness, consistency, and performativity, representing a reversible, scalable, and sustainable structure for the new millennium. The reflective, perforated surface is supported by a reusable framework, which also accommodates gadgets like mirrors, solar panels, and water collectors, enabling interaction with the environment in both visible and invisible ways. The installation’s coated surface captures particulates such as nitrous oxides, sulfur oxides, and carbon oxides, producing photosynthesis when exposed to light, allowing it to self-clean and purify its surroundings over time.
Air quality is monitored and displayed through several technical installations within and around the pavilion. LED ticker strips track the amount of purified CO2 particles, while screens map air pollution levels across Barcelona. The pavilion also hosts presentations that explore how air quality is addressed in other disciplines, such as photography, fashion, music, and pop culture. Free Air was built as a temporary structure for the Architecture Festival Model, organized by The Fundació Mies van der Rohe under the direction of Eva Franch i Gilabert. The pavilion also hosted events on the future of architectural design, featuring lectures by Mark Wigley, Marina Otero Verzier, Amical Dall, and others.
Project Gallery
Project Location
Address: Barcelona, Spain
Location is for general reference and may represent a city or country, not necessarily a precise address.
