Breathe: Re-Defining the Urban Breathing Apparatus

As a speculative vision of the future, the Urban Breathing Apparatus was designed to challenge thoughts on the hermetically sealed building. Architecture has been struggling for the ultimate hermetic seal since the introduction of air conditioning systems (artificial breathing apparatus), focusing more on the physical seal (skin) of the building and less about the immaterial substance inside, air. The urban fabric needs to be reconceptualized. A new way of thinking is needed for the static, hermetic seals of modern buildings as breathable thresholds, through principles of biological and technological processes to metabolize the contaminated interior and exterior air.