The debate on air quality in the Netherlands is more urgent than ever. Nationwide, air quality is measured through a network of monitoring stations managed by government agencies such as the RIVM and GGD. While this information is available via luchtmeetnet.nl, it remains largely unknown and difficult to access for the public. The current air monitoring stations are anonymous boxes that provide no visible insight into air quality, which is a missed opportunity given their societal relevance and prominent locations.
Anemoi is a design for a new typology of the air monitoring network, developed through pro-active agency between Rademacher / de Vries, GGD Amsterdam, and the Municipality of Amsterdam. The project gives form to the national air monitoring network by integrating architecture and data visualization into public space. Anemoi enhances the accessibility of scientific information on air quality, aiming to raise awareness and enrich public debate with factual data and artistic imagination. The flexible typology is designed as ‘open-work’ that can adapt to different contexts for future expansion of the network.
Pro-active agency through data visualisation
The project aims to improve accessibility to scientific information and integrates real-time data visualizations into the architecture.
The moiré lamp displays the air quality index through a dynamic lamp that changes color based on air quality: from blue for good to purple for very poor. The lamp uses the moiré effect as its primary design element. This pattern, based on thematic meteorological associations, creates a dynamic effect that changes depending on the viewing angle. It draws the attention of passersby and invites them to take a closer look at the station. The steel casing of the lamp is inspired by the classic street lamps of the Nieuwendammerdijk.
While the moiré lamp has a high level of abstraction, three dials that show the air quality index, the level of particulate matter, and ozone in the air. Additionally, there is a QR code that directs visitors to luchtmeetnet.nl, where further information about air quality can be found, as well as open data for the critical yet engaged citizen.
Contextual design & tradition
The design of the pilot project refers to the form, materiality, and color scheme of its context: the protected cityscape of the Nieuwendammerdijk in Amsterdam. The design consists of a base, body and crown, where the main volume reads as a monolith with strong presence and recognizability for the air monitoring network. The existing air monitoring station happens to be perfectly aligned with the wind directions. The existing square foundation will be reused and extruded into an octagonal shape, forming the main structure of the building. Besides representing the cardinal wind directions, the octagonal shape has a rich history tracing back to ancient wind temples and the bell towers of European churches. Moreover, the steel crown acts as a compass, with the wind directions engraved, and responds to the characteristic gables of the Nieuwendammerdijk. The façade uses the traditional cladding technique “potdekselen”—an age-old robust method, but applied in a contemporary way with a vertical rather than horizontal orientation.
The Tower of the Winds is an important source of inspiration and can be seen as the beginning of a tradition that has been intentionally and unintentionally carried forward over millennia. These are buildings whose symbolism is shaped by a poetic combination of recording and/or measuring geophysical phenomena and unique architecture. Moreover, the Netherlands has a rich architectural tradition of carefully designed utility buildings. The air monitoring stations seem to have lost sight of this tradition. We see a great opportunity to revive this tradition and combine it with a socially relevant message about air quality. In doing so, we hope to inspire designers and policymakers with a renewed appreciation for this tradition.
Network & typology
Many existing monitoring stations are technically outdated and need to be replaced. Anemoi is designed as a flexible typology for the measuring network. It can adapt to various environments and site specific conditions through materiality and detailing, however it is also recognizable as part of the measuring network through unity and repeating elements. We believe in collaboration and as such the typology is open and flexible to be interpreted by other architects for future expansion.
Anemoi is positioned on a European scale. This scope requires a collaborative approach in which citizens, policymakers, and designers work together. We aim to provide designers across Europe with a strategy to convince local citizens and authorities to improve the network. In this way, the air monitoring stations, despite—or perhaps because of—their modest size, can become a symbol of European cooperation towards a sustainable future with clean air for everyone.
