London and Turin-based architecture and innovation firm ecoLogicStudio has created a restorative space for a Swiss consumer healthcare company in Nyon, Switzerland.

Named AirBubble Restorative Space, the space is "the world's first biotechnological healthcare garden" that blends medicinal plants with air-purifying algal cultures.

The project creates a novel spatial concept that balances work, rest, mental and physical well-being, and collaboration among staff members from various departments. 

Additionally, the aromas of fresh flowers and herbs, along with the bubbling oxygen, enhance the multisensory experience it offers.

Situated in the lush vegetation neighborhood of the factory grounds in Nyon, Switzerland, the project is a component of the broader initiative known as AirCampus. 

The new AirOffice, a symbiotic indoor workspace that combines advanced gardening and air filtration, the biotechnological desktop air purifier known as AIReactor, and the recently introduced AirBubble restorative space are all part of it.

AirCampus is designed to be a cutting-edge architectural solution for indoor and outdoor work environments, as well as for mental and physical health. 

The AirBubble restorative space is an innovative bio-design project that is a scalable and replicable architectural system that can be implemented in any workplace worldwide.

By surpassing the model of today's healthcare industry and reimagining the model of the pre-industrial botanical garden, the project offers Nyon a fresh viewpoint on the relationship between landscape design and the workplace.

"We researched the origins of pharmaceutical manufacturing by studying the medicinal garden of Padua, Italy, where medicinal essences and plants were grown as part of a community park," said Marco Poletto, co-founder of ecoLogicStudio.

"We then translated this concept into the biodigital era, where substances can once again be cultivated in the public realm," Poletto added.

The AirBubble restorative area incorporates the PhotoSyntheticaTM technology, which ecoLogicStudio has been developing since 2018 within the academic consortium bearing the same name.

Starting in 2021, ecoLogicStudio began exploring how to integrate biotechnological systems into architecture, interiors, and landscape design.

"The aim is to engage users in various phases of the air purification process, highlighting its benefits for human health, well-being in private and work spaces, and creating new green areas within factory production plants," the studio added.

Situated atop a landscaped mound, the AirBubble restorative space is made up of a cylindrical timber structure that is six meters high and connected at three levels. 

The structure is covered in an ETFE membrane. The wooden structure's central section houses 36 sizable borosilicate glass bioreactors that hold 350 liters of living green Chlorella algae cultures, capable of filtering 150 liters of polluted air per minute. 

The algae actively consume the carbon dioxide and polluting molecules to release clean, fresh oxygen while the liquid medium washes the particles. 

The AirBubble restorative space's architectural morphology contributes to the filtration process by further stimulating natural ventilation and air recirculation through its inverted conical roof membrane.

The truck loading dock noise is muffled by the white bubbling sound of the algae gardening system, which creates a serene environment perfect for releasing tension from the body and mind. 

Furthermore, the biomass that has been harvested can be utilized as fertilizer for the wild meadow and the 47 medicinal plants that are concentrically arranged around the central seating area, or it can be included in the canteen menu as vegetable protein bread and algae drinks.

A large two-level seating area is accessible to visitors who enter onto a rubber surface made up of various shades of brown and green, as well as light and dark green particles. 

The architects created a central sculpture resembling petals where the roof membrane converges to form a small rainwater garden using two sinuous Corten metal sheets, which they selected for their weathering properties. 

Eleven cork seats are fixed into the rubberized surface around the perimeter, which is highlighted by a second Corten element. The cork chips used to make the seats were moistened to release a natural resin, which formed a number of dark brown cork blocks that were CNC-cut into softer shapes.

The wooden structure is fastened with 26 ground screws and is intended to be the least intrusive on the ground. This structural solution is completely reversible and doesn't disturb the landscape since it doesn't require the use of pier blocks or concrete posts. Additionally, 

AirBubble restorative space preserves natural resources by not using irrigation water and by integrating rainwater collection and seasonally appropriate local plants.

There is a 47-planter medicinal garden surrounding the AirBubble healing area. Four varieties of autumn and winter flowering plants—Alchemilla vulgaris, Iberis sempervirens, Camellia japonica, and Helleborus—are closest to the main structure. 

Moving out from the center, 16 species with spring and summer blossoms are dispersed. 

These include common medicinal plants like Salvia officinalis, Thymus vulgaris, Melissa officinalis, and Mentha piperita, as well as plants with more specialized uses like Pulmonaria officinalis, which is traditionally used to treat respiratory system disorders, or Nepeta cataria, which has medicinal uses related to stress relief and mental wellness.

The office stated that "the project features a monitoring system that integrates urban air pollution sensors and measures the Air Quality Index for six core pollutants: fine particulate PM2.5 and PM10, ground level Ozone (O3), Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2), Sulphur Dioxide (SO2) and Carbon Monoxide (CO). AirBubble is capable of absorbing 97% of the nitrogen and 75% of the particulate matter in the air."

The AirBubble restorative space is a component of a larger project called AirBubble, which aims to increase public awareness of the negative effects of air pollution on human health. 

Space plan

Section

Plan gardening

Medicinal plants catalogue

AirBubble playground in Warsaw, the AirBubble inflatable air-purifying eco-machine installed at COP26, COP27, and Saudi Design Festival, and AirLab presented in London are all earlier iterations of this endeavor.

In London, Claudia Pasquero and Marco Poletto co-founded ecoLogicStudio, an architecture and design innovation firm that specializes in biotechnology for the built environment, in 2005. 

With academic partners Synthetic Landscape Lab at the University of Innsbruck and the Urban Morphogenesis Lab at UCL London, ecoLogicStudio launched the PhotoSynthetica venture in 2018.

Project facts

Project name: AirBubble restorative space
Location: Nyon, Switzerland
Architect: ecoLogicStudio (Claudia Pasquero and Marco Poletto)
Project Team: Claudia Pasquero, Marco Poletto with Konstantina Bikou, Marco Matteraglia, Alessandra Poletto, Andrea Tiberi, Francesca Turi, Lucas Ursprung
Academic Partners: Synthetic Landscape Lab IOUD Innsbruck University, Urban Morphogenesis Lab BPRO The Bartlett UCL
Structural Engineer: YIP London
General Contractor: ecoLogicStudio

All images © Pepe Fotografia.

All drawings © ecoLogicStudio. 

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