Breath
Jan. 2014
Breathing mask, Authentic Experience, Futuristic. Cooperation with the Electrolux Design Lab – Air Purification
Professor : P. Naumann
This project is based on the air pollution problems big cities all over the world have trouble with. Lands just as China have big issues on that mater. There are many people wearing filtering facemasks. This concept offers a more aesthetic solution for the masks of nowadays.
Sketching
First sketches for different types of breathing mask. Important in every sketch is to not disturb the main facial features, just as the nose and mouth. The first rendering on the right shows transparent orbits across nose and mouth providing fresh air filtered in the technical cheek-part. Still very techy and unpleasant to look at.
This is the second phase of this project in which the problems shown on the first stage are managed. A big issue is the fixed cheek-part. The cheeks are the most active part in the face. They move a lot while your talk or do any kind of mimic. The task is to find a different way to stick the breathing mask to the face. On these sketches you can see a variety of fixture solutions. The evolutions is shown from left to right. The sketches on the right are showing the latest idea. There the breathing mask sticks to the nose and behind one ear. The active cleaning part is located behind the ear and provides fresh filtered air to the translucent part across nose and mouth.
Here you can see the final results of the sketch phase. The breathing mask is still stuck to nose and ear. A big issue was the technical part, filtering and providing fresh air to nose and mouth. You can see different ideas on this topic. Eventually it was decided to put the technical part over the ear in order to not interfere with the head movements, as it would be a problem putting the tech at the back of the head. It was important to provide the technical part with the necessary visual credibility. On each breath there needed to be at least a litre of fresh air provided.
Finalizing
At the technical-part, over the ear, the air is sucked in through two fans. Then it gets filtered and carried over to the flexible part at the ear. The air is transported through a small tube. This tube and the technical part shines blue to give the feeling of a new technology, used to filter the air, and to visualize its freshness after being cleaned.
The fresh air is set free at the openings at the mouth-part. The surface of the mouth-part is slightly vaulted in order to provide a steady amount of breathable fresh air. The whole breathing mask is made of light elements to increase the wearing comfort.
