Just last month, Studio Roodegaarde unveiled GROW, an art installation near Almere which aimed to highlight the importance of the farming industry and the beauty of agriculture. This month, Dutch designer Daan Roodegaarde has launched the world’s first Urban Sun in Rotterdam. 

Studio Roosegaarde launches Urban Sun to fight coronavirus

Roosegaarde is known for installations that combine the beauty and magic of art with innovative technology. For his latest project, he worked with his team of designers, and scientists and experts from all around the world to discover how the power of light could be used to fight off viruses - including coronavirus. Inspired by the sun and supported by contemporary scientific research, the Urban Sun uses a new far-UVC light with a wavelength of 222 nanometres to "safely clean up to 99,9 percent of the coronavirus."

Urban Sun shines a large circle of far-UVC light onto public spaces, thereby cleaning those areas of coronavirus. In a statement, Studio Roosegaarde said the installation “connects design with science to provide innovative solutions to create spaces for people to meet and exchange in a safer and a more humane way,” and hopes it will provide an additional layer of protection against the virus.

World's first Urban Sun in Rotterdam

Studio Roosegaarde started researching and developing Urban Sun back in 2019, but said the COVID-19 pandemic encouraged them to speed up the work. “Suddenly our world is filled with plastic barriers and distance stickers, our family reduced to pixels on a computer screen. Let’s be the architects of our new normal and create better places to meet and interact,” Roosegaarde said. 

Thumb and video via Daan Roosegaarde.