A RAY OF LIGHT IN THE FIGHT AGAINST CORONAVIRUS?
▶ The Urban Sun installation built by Dutch innovator Daan Roosegaarde, which he claims can eliminate viruses in public spaces, could come to Expo 2020, writes Keith J Fernandez
Each sunrise is a tiny miracle, but Daan Roosegaarde hopes one particular dawn could dispel the darkness of our Covid-dimmed lives. Rising for the first time this week is Urban Sun, an installation that harnesses far-ultraviolet light to inactivate airborne coronaviruses in open-air spaces.
The project debuted in a public square alongside the Erasmus Bridge in Rotterdam on Tuesday, and could potentially be seen at Expo 2020 Dubai.
Urban Sun builds on studies suggesting that a light wavelength of 222 nanometres can eliminate up to 99.9 per cent of the coronavirus.
“It started with the realisation that something physically so small as the virus is having such a huge impact on our lives,” the Dutch designer and contemporary artist, 41, tells The National.
“Suddenly our world is filled with plastic barriers and distance stickers. We’re afraid to shake each other’s hands. Family is reduced to pixels on a computer screen.
“Let’s be the architects of our new normal, and create better places to meet and interact.”
When Roosegaarde, who trained in art and architecture, read of specific UV light frequencies that inactivate airborne viral transmissions – without health risks to humans – he teamed up with a group of scientists and designers to see if they could help control the spread of Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19.
“This is public knowledge that has been available for years. So why aren’t we investing in the research, in the possibilities of how light can help us?”
Indeed, as far back as 2004, US researchers showed how UVC (C-type ultraviolet light) radiation at frequencies of 254nm could inactivate the original Sars-CoV virus. However, UVC light at this frequency can lead to skin cancer and cataracts, which is why its use in battling the coronavirus – including here in the UAE – has been restricted to disinfection robots and lamps that can only be used when no people are present on the premises.
But, as the past year has accelerated our uptake of technology, it took a pandemic for scientists to demonstrate, in separate studies in Japan and the US, that UVC light at lower frequencies can also work as a steriliser while remaining safe for humans.
A study published in Nature magazine in June reports: “The sensitivity of the coronaviruses to far-UVC light, together with extensive safety data … suggests that it may be feasible to have the lamps providing continuous low-dose far-UVC exposure in public places – potentially reducing the probability of person-to-person transmission of the coronavirus as well as other seasonal viruses such as influenza.”
These findings form the basis of Urban Sun, which Roosegaarde developed using technology from Italian photobiology company MEG. The project streams concentrated 222nm UVC light from an aerostat, a kind of stationary light aircraft. Virtual simulations have shown how the installation can cleanse an area ranging from 95 square metres within minutes, which is suitable for small exhibitions, Roosegaarde says.
“At the same time, we have designed for a larger unit of about 3,500 square metres, which could be applied in Expo 2020 Dubai, for example,” he says.
The far-UVC light source used in the Urban Sun prototype is measured and calibrated by the Dutch National Metrology Institute, and the project meets the International Commission on NonIonising Radiation Protection safety standards, according to the designer’s Studio Roosegaarde lab.
As his other projects (see box) prove, Roosegaarde’s work borders on activism, but he shrugs off the label, describing himself as an activator. “Activists go out and protest, which is stating an opinion. I’m an activator because I don’t care about opinions. I care about proposals. And results.
“That’s driven by wonder, by imagination. If we can’t imagine a better future, we won’t be able to create it for ourselves. I’m not the inventor of far-UVC light. I’m not a scientist, nor a photobiology expert, but I can create an artistic vision and put it out there, and then see how the world reacts to that.
“These projects are all driven by the desire to make things that make people curious, instead of scared about the future.”
What about the UAE, then? From raising agricultural yields to recreating the feeling of being underwater, much of Roosegaarde’s work responds to the natural challenges facing the Netherlands – but does the Rub’ al Khali desert, also known as the Empty Quarter, spark the idea for a prototype?
Turns out, it does – by way of high-school physics. “We’ve done some prototypes, where we direct the heat of the sun into a lens to melt the sand and create a solid mass.
“In essence, we’d be using the sun to make a very large 3D printer,” he says. “The first 3D-printed commercial building is already in Dubai, and I’d use the technology to connect with local tradition. It’s not my job to reinvent the sun or the sand, but to make new connections – in this case, between sand and science.”
Roosegaarde says he loves the bold thinking that has become a signature of the GCC’s approach to innovative projects. “When I present a project in Europe, they usually ask me: ‘Are you sure you’ve done it before?’ But in the Middle East, in Dubai, they usually ask: ‘Are you sure this is the first time?’
“That says something about how you perceive the world. And I want to go to and work with places that are curious. That’s my thumb rule.”
Let’s be the architects of our new normal, and create better places to meet and interact