brussels-based designer guillaume slizewicz designed the canari lamp that aims precisely at revealing air pollution. the lamp is made of brass, glass, and custom 3D-printed parts and includes a microcontroller connected to real-time open data on pollution that controls 7 LEDs. the LEDs are dimmed according to local air pollution measures available on sites such as sensor.community or smartcitizen.me.

brussels based designer guillaume slizewicz turns air quality data into light patterns 1
images by paulineplusluis

 

 

guillaume slizewicz coded the light patterns in a way that mirrors the number of particles in the air. the more particles in the air, the more LEDs are dimmed, and the quicker they fade in and out. the light movement of the LEDs is an indication of the ppm2.5 or ppm10. the inspiration came from canari birds that were carried as a signal, alerting coal miners when the air became unbreathable. seeing these birds choke (often due to too high a concentration of carbon monoxide), miners could escape before it was too late. in a similar way, the canari project wants to raise awareness of air pollution by turning toxicity data into light signals.

brussels based designer guillaume slizewicz turns air quality data into light patterns 2

 

 

canari makes air pollution visible, by making the reading of data related to pollution instinctive, through the light patterns that a lamp displays, their speed, their amplitude. the objective is not only to give information to the citizen but rather to sound the alarm and alert them to the need to act at that moment, at that place. in this spirit, the canari project joins the movement of citizens, associations, and researchers who have mobilized in recent years to demand cleaner air. ‘by raising awareness of the geography and scale of the problem, we hope to encourage community involvement and action towards a more sustainable future and to put pressure on decision-makers for rapid improvements in this area.’

 

 

 

 

the plans and code for canari have been released under an open-source license along with a tutorial explaining the different steps to build one so that people can use and adapt this prototype with the material at hand. this prototype lamp is part of a longer trajectory on air quality representation supported by trakk through its edutainment program that brings together academics, designers, and local businesses around a science-related theme.

brussels based designer guillaume slizewicz turns air quality data into light patterns 3

brussels based designer guillaume slizewicz turns air quality data into light patterns 4

brussels based designer guillaume slizewicz turns air quality data into light patterns 5

 

 

canari is a brass table lamp that creates light patterns when the air is polluted

canari is a brass table lamp that creates light patterns when the air is polluted

canari is a brass table lamp that creates light patterns when the air is polluted

 

 

project info:

 

name: canari

designer: guillaume slizewicz in collaboration with academics nicola da schio, tarek barakat

creative code: martin pirson supported by the trakk team marine warzée, laura latour, nathalie cimino

 

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

 

edited by: yasmina karam | designboom