Parisian artist and product designer, Mathieu Lehanneur, has fused art and science together to come up with a retro-futuristic pod, that uses the recycling properties of plants to purify the air.

Plastic, fibreglass, wood, paint, insulating foam and fire retardant materials all emit harmful components which can build up in our bodies. The Bel-Air is a mini mobile greenhouse. It sucks all the bad air out of the room and holds it in a humid, plant-filled capsule that filters out any contaminants. When released, the air is purified!

The five plants used in the Bel-Air are those identified by NASA as the most efficient in absorbing toxins: see article on page 18.

Although the Bel-Air is currently only available as a prototype, it will be on show at the Museum of Modern Art in New York until May 2008 ñ part of an exhibition called Design and the Elastic Mind. The goal is to invite buyers to become voluntary guinea pigs and report back on the Bel-Air’s success. Accordingly, the feedback will help the product to improve before it goes into production during 2009.

Another breathing’ design of Mathieu Lehanneur’s, sits in the Flood restaurants of Paris ñ 58 rue de Chateaudun and 1 rue Danielle Casanova. Here, one can literally eat air’. Aquariums rest in the centre of each area, containing over 100 litres of Spirulina Platensis ñ an edible algae. By photosynthesis, these microalgae produce pure oxygen. Customers can pop their head in’ for a bit of clean air in between courses.

Contact: www​.mathieulehanneur​.com
Top and left: Bel-Air by Mathieu Lehanneur, which uses living plants to purify the air indoors and above: eating air’ in Paris restaurants
Photos: © Mathieu Lehanneur