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A 23-Foot-Tall Air Purifier Gets a Tryout in Smoggy Beijing
荷兰“除霾塔”即将在中国开启战霾之旅
Rather than the screens, sensors, microchips and Big Data typically employed by Smart City designers, Daan Roosegaarde works with a more fanciful tool kit: smog-eating machines, light-emitting plankton and solar-sensitive paint.
相比智慧城市设计师通常运用的屏幕、感应器、微芯片和大数据，丹·罗斯格德(Daan Roosegaarde)使用的工具更加别出心裁：吞噬雾霾的机器、发光浮游生物和太阳光敏油漆。
“When we talk about innovation today, it’s screen-based, but Smart City is not about another app or microchip,” said Mr. Roosegaarde, whose design firm, Studio Roosegaarde, is based in Rotterdam in the Netherlands. “Big Data is important, but things can go wrong if we only focus on technology and forget to connect with people and to connect people with their environment.”
“如今当我们说起创意，大多和屏幕有关，但智慧城市不是再研发一个应用或微芯片，”罗斯格德说。他的设计公司罗斯格德工作室(Studio Roosegaarde)总部设在荷兰的鹿特丹。“大数据很重要，但如果我们只关注技术而忽略与人的连接，忘记将人与环境联系起来，就会出现问题。”
It is that sort of philosophy that led Mr. Roosegaarde and his partners to create the Smog Free Tower, the world’s first outdoor air cleaner. Just 23 feet tall, it looks like a miniature chrome-latticed skyscraper. But inside, a powerful vacuum uses ionization technology to suck up smog, filter out the dangerous particles and release purified air. Mr. Roosegaarde contends that in 36 hours it can eliminate 70 to 80 percent of the impurities in the air from an area the size of a football stadium.
正是在这种理念的引导下，罗斯格德和他的合伙人创造了世界上首座户外空气净化器“除霾塔”(Smog Free Tower)。它只有23英尺（约合7米）高，看起来像微缩版的铬合金框架摩天楼。但它的内部有一台功能强大的真空吸尘器，利用电离技术吸入雾霾，滤掉其中的有害颗粒，然后排出净化后的空气。罗斯格德称，这台机器可以在36小时内净化一个足球场大小的空间内70%至80%的空气。
The tower was co-designed by Mr. Roosegaarde and various experts, then tested in Rotterdam. But now it is about to take on a much bigger challenge: China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection recently commissioned Mr. Roosegaarde to temporarily install the tower at a public location in Beijing in September to see how well it performs in the catastrophically smoggy air that is choking China’s largest cities. It will then go on a sort of smog-fighting tour, with related educational events, to four other Chinese cities over the next year.
这座塔由罗斯格德和各领域的专家共同设计，之后在鹿特丹进行了测试。不过现在它将接受一项大得多的挑战：中国环境保护部最近委托罗斯格德于9月在北京的一个公共场地临时安装这种净化塔，看看它在净化有巨大危害的雾霾空气方面表现如何。这样的空气正在令中国最大的几座城市的民众感到窒息。之后，它将在接下来的一年里前往其他四座中国城市，展开一场战霾之旅，还会举办相关教育活动。
Neither the Chinese nor Mr. Roosegaarde are under the illusion that the tower will make any real difference in China’s overall air quality.
中国人和罗斯格德均未抱有幻想，以为这样一座塔可以让中国的总体大气质量产生实质变化。
Liu Guozheng, deputy director of the China Forum of Environmental Journalists, a part of the environment ministry, said the Chinese would have to undertake a much more ambitious effort to get at the roots of smog. “However, the role of the Smog Free Tower as a warning sign is still very significant,” he said. “It is a reminder of our mission and responsibility to fight against smog issues.”
在环保部旗下中国环境新闻工作者协会担任秘书长的刘国正表示，要应对雾霾问题的根源，中国需要进行大胆得多的尝试。“不过，除霾塔起到的警示作用仍然非常重要，”他说。“它能提醒我们抗击雾霾问题的使命和责任。”
Ma Jun, an environmental activist in Beijing, echoed that view, calling the Smog Free Tower project a form of “performance art” aimed at raising awareness about air pollution.
北京的环保活动人士马军也赞同这一观点。他将除霾塔项目称作一种“行为艺术”，旨在提高有关大气污染的意识。
But Mr. Roosegaarde considers it a first step.
不过，罗斯格德认为这是迈出的第一步。
And aside from whatever effect it has on the environment, the tower is significant for the entrepreneurship it represents.
此外，除了对环境可能产生的影响，除霾塔所代表的创新精神也有其重要性。
“This signals how cities are finding new ways to solve problems, paving the way for new ideas from a much more diverse community of entrepreneurs, innovators and citizens,” said Sascha Haselmayer of Citymart, a New York-based consultancy that helps cities solve problems and share solutions.
“这显示了城市在寻找新的方式来解决问题，为创业人士、发明家和居民组成的多样化社群想出新点子开辟道路，”咨询机构Citymart的萨沙·哈塞迈耶(Sascha Haselmayer)说。Citymart的总部位于纽约，帮助各大城市应对问题并分享解决方案。
Mr. Roosegaarde said both the Chinese government and his group would monitor the air around the tower, which uses 1,400 watts of electricity per day, roughly that of an electric kettle.
罗斯格德称，来自中国政府和他所在机构的人员将对这座除霾塔附近的空气进行监测。它的功率为1400瓦，与电水壶相当。
One byproduct of the project is as imaginative as the tower itself: The carbon particles extracted from the air will be compressed and sealed in acrylic in the form of rings, cuff links and cubes, and then sold. The proceeds will be put toward the development and construction of more towers.
这个项目的一个副产品与除霾塔本身一样充满想象力：从空气中提取的碳颗粒会被压缩并封存到亚克力中，制成戒指、袖扣和小方块出售。由此得来的收益将被用于推进更多除霾塔的研发与建设工作。
Mr. Roosegaarde, 36, said the keepsakes were offered during a crowdfunding campaign that provided the initial 113,000 euros, or around $125,000, for the tower. Rings were given to people who donated 250 euros. He said he had received preorders for 1,600 pieces, mostly rings, at a comparable price.
现年36岁的罗斯格德说，众筹活动为除霾塔贡献了初始的11.3万欧元（约合83.2万元人民币），而这些纪念品就是在这次活动中提供的。捐赠250欧元，即可得到戒指。他透露，自己收到了1600个预订单，多数是为了订戒指，价格与之差不多。
The project’s prototype, which was based on existing technology for purification systems in hospitals and parking garages, took two years to develop at a cost of “around a million euros,” Mr. Roosegaarde said. In addition to the crowdfunding, the City of Rotterdam; the Port of Rotterdam; Stichting Doen, a Dutch foundation; and Studio Roosegaarde provided financial support.
项目的原型机基于目前在医院和停车场净化系统里使用的技术。罗斯格德表示，花了两年时间研发，用了“100万欧元左右”。除了众筹得来的钱，鹿特丹市政府、鹿特丹港口、荷兰的Doen基金会(Stichting Doen)与罗斯格德工作室也提供了资金支持。
An early adviser to Studio Roosegaarde was Bob Ursem, a nanoparticles expert at the Delft University of Technology, who devised a method for positively charging particles to extract them from the air.
代尔夫特理工大学(Delft University of Technology)的纳米颗粒物专家鲍勃·乌尔塞姆(Bob Ursem)为罗斯格德工作室担任了早期顾问。他设计出了一种让颗粒物带上正电荷从而从空气中提取出来的办法。
Mr. Roosegaarde said the idea for the Smog Free Tower came about during a 2013 trip to Beijing, when he learned the blanket of smog was so bad that the city’s children could not play outdoors for part of the year.
罗斯格德表示，除霾塔的想法源于他2013年的北京之行。他那时得知，席卷北京的雾霾极为严重，导致一年中有些时候孩子们无法去室外玩耍。
The tower has prompted inquiries from other cities, including Mexico City, New Delhi and Mumbai in India, and Santiago, Chile.
他的除霾塔还引发了其他一些城市的兴趣，包括墨西哥城、印度的新德里和孟买，以及智利的圣地亚哥。
The project typifies the Roosegaarde gestalt: technology and social relevance, connectivity and poetry joined together to create a way of experiencing the urban landscape. “What stories will people tell breathing the cleaner air around the towers?” he said. “In my life, physical experiences changed me, made me look at things differently. My job is to create this atmosphere.”
这个项目体现了罗斯格德的完形：具有技术与社会意义，联通性与诗意结合在一起，从而创造一种体验都市景观的方式。“在塔周围呼吸着较为清新空气的人会讲述怎样的故事呢？”他问道。“在我的生命中，身体体验会改变我，让我产生不同的视角。我的工作就是创造这种气氛。”
The son of a math teacher, Mr. Roosegaarde grew up in the lake countryside of Nieuwkoop, in the western Netherlands. Then the country boy went urban.
罗斯格德出生在数学教师家庭，在荷兰西部的乡村湖区新科普长大。然后，这个乡下男孩进了城。
“I’m a guy who fell in love with cities and places before girls,” he said. “At 16, it was, ‘Ah, Antwerp.’”
“爱上姑娘之前，我就爱上了城市之类的地方，”他说。“16岁的时候，我就想着，‘啊，安特卫普！’”
After studying art and architecture, he decided to stay in Rotterdam, because it “has the can-do attitude of a harbor city,” he said. “It gives us the context to test ideas and make a mistake.”
学习了艺术与建筑之后，他决定留在鹿特丹，因为那里“拥有港口城市的进取精神，”他说。“让我有了环境来尝试不同的理念，允许我犯错。”
He opened Studio Roosegaarde, situated in a more than 10,000-square-foot former glass factory near the harbor. It typically employs a team of 15 designers, engineers and support staff members but can grow to as many as 30 as experts are added for specific projects.
他开设了罗斯格德工作室，坐落在面积逾一万平方英尺的废弃玻璃厂里，离港口不远。公司通常雇有15人，由设计师、工程师与后勤人员组成，不过要是特定项目需要添一些专家的话，团队规模可能涨至30人。
Apart from the Smog Free Tower, other Roosegaarde projects that are eliciting international interest are the Smart Highway and the Van Gogh Bicycle Path, in collaboration with Heijmans, the Dutch infrastructure services company. Both projects use paint that is charged by sunlight during the day and glows at night.
除了除霾塔，罗斯格德另有两个项目在吸引国际关注：与荷兰基础设施服务公司Heijmans合作的智能公路(Smart Highway)和梵高自行车道(Van Gogh Bicycle Path)。两个项目均采用可以白天在阳光下充电、晚上发光的涂料。
The highway paint (the pilot project is in the Dutch city of Oss) glows green and is bright enough to eliminate the need for streetlights. The bicycle path (in Eindhoven) is a multicolored swirl inspired by Van Gogh’s work.
智能公路上用的涂料（试点项目在荷兰的奥斯市进行）会发出绿光，亮度足以让路灯变得没有必要。（在艾恩德霍芬进行的）自行车道项目则以梵高的作品为灵感，色彩缤纷，蜿蜒曲折。
Another project involves harvesting light-producing marine plankton called dinoflagellates to produce a liquid that glows at night. “We are working on improving the quality of life for the organism, the intensity of light it creates and eliminating the smell,” he said. “The idea is to light up a bicycle path with a river of light that is 100 percent natural.”
还有一个项目涉及采集产光的海洋浮游生物双鞭毛藻来生产夜间发光的液体。“我们在努力改进这种生物的生命质量、它的产光强度，同时去掉它的气味，”他说。“目标是用百分之百的自然光线流来点亮一整条自行车道。”
He describes himself as a futurist focused on the present.
罗斯格德将自己描述为注重当下的未来主义者。
“I’m not saying I have all the answers. It’s about thinking in proposals, not opinions. You do it by building stuff, showing it.”
“并不是说，我拥有一切的答案。关键是以建议的方式思考问题，而不是妄下判断。做事的手法是打造东西，把它展示出来。”
