Hasta La Ideas

The Humanair

With its focus on the design of the comfortable workplace, it would seem logical for the ergonomic equipment maker Humanscale to turn its attention to the quality of indoor air. Indoor air is, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, one of the top five environmental health risks in the United States. But designing the air is no easy task. To clean the air of even one room is an energy-inefficient undertaking, constantly compromised by the fact that no room is sealed, and people bring in dirty air every time they open a door.

After four years in design development, and much longer in gestation, a desktop air purifier was launched by Humanscale at the end of last year. The Humanair makes an intriguing case study. The product went through several iterations in pursuit of Humanscale’s hunch that a localized solution was considerably more efficient than cleaning the air of an entire room. Since people actually spend most of their indoor time in one spot (in bed, on the couch, or at a desk), clean air could be delivered to local “zones” around the user.

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