In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, a global shortage of protective masks has arisen - it seems that this problem has not spared any country. Personal protective equipment is not enough for both medical personnel and ordinary citizens. Architects and designers have joined in the fight against the shortage of PPE.
So, the employees of the British bureau Foster + Partners have come up with a protective screen, the manufacture of which takes only one and a half minutes: production lasts 30 seconds, the remaining time is assembly. In one working day, Norman Foster's team was able to produce 1000 of these masks. The architects deliberately ditched a 3D printer in favor of a laser cutting machine because the process is faster. The dwg file for the CNC machine and the assembly instructions can be downloaded free of charge from the bureau's website.
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zooming Image: Foster + Partners Limited
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zooming Image: Foster + Partners Limited
The model consists of three components: a transparent visor made of a 0.5 mm thick sheet of polyethylene terephthalate glycol (PETG), a headband and a strap that holds them together. At any time, the protective mask can be disassembled, disinfected, reassembled and used again. The first prototypes are now being tested in London hospitals.
Apple followed the lead of British architects and released its own version of the screen protector. Making and assembling one copy also takes about one and a half minutes. All files necessary for the production of the shield are laid out in the public domain. The company representatives emphasize that in order to be effective, the protective screen must be worn along with a medical mask and special suit. Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company plans to release a million PPE a week and ship them to US hospitals.
Sun Dayong, co-founder of Penda architecture studio, came up with the concept of a protective suit that uses UV light to fight the coronavirus. In the Be a Bat Man project, both the name of a superhero, whose abilities go beyond human capabilities, and the name of representatives of bats are encrypted. It is bats that are considered one of the possible sources of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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zooming 1/5 © Penda China
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zooming 2/5 © Penda China
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zooming 3/5 © Penda China
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zooming 4/5 © Penda China
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zooming 5/5 © Penda China
The frame of the "dome" is made of carbon fiber with a PVC film stretched over it with a built-in network of wires. UV rays heat the wires to a temperature of 56 ° C - high enough to kill pathogens that have accumulated on the outside of the case and maintain sterility on the inside. This is how the bat suit prevents the spread of infection.
Danielle Baskin, a designer and artist based in San Francisco, presented a concept for a service called Resting Risk Face. With its help, you can print an image of your own face on a protective mask. Thanks to this accessory, the owner of the phone will be able to unlock their device without removing the mask. This means that he will not expose his health to unnecessary risk. Of course, this only applies to smartphones that use a face recognition system. However, the designer admits, the copy will still differ from the original, so the image on the mask will have to be saved in the settings as an alternative option.
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zooming 1/4 Images from restingriskface.com
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zooming 2/4 Images from restingriskface.com
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zooming 3/4 Image from restingriskface.com
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zooming 4/4 Images from restingriskface.com
Russian architects did not stand aside: so Vladimir Obukhovich from Naro-Fominsk, who works in the Ministry of Improvement of the Moscow Region, printed 40 protective masks at home and handed them over to the regional hospital. The architect took the project of Bjarke Ingels as a basis.
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zooming 1/4 Photo courtesy of the Press Service of the Ministry of Public Improvement of the Moscow Region
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zooming 2/4 Photo courtesy of the Press Service of the Ministry of Public Improvement of the Moscow Region
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zooming 3/4 Photo courtesy of the Press Service of the Ministry of Public Improvement of the Moscow Region
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zooming 4/4 Photo courtesy of the Press Service of the Ministry of Public Improvement of the Moscow Region
The production was carried out on an inexpensive hobbyist 3D-printer Anet E12. It took a little more than 25 minutes to print, assembly and revision took another 10-15 minutes. By the way, Obukhovich improved the original BIG concept: the architect additionally fixed the joints of the shield elements with a 3D pen so that the parts would not fall off during operation.
