ROWI

I designed this product for a project initiated by the European Union's Climate-KIC, called the 2nd Skin project. The aim of this project was to develop a prefabricated facade to make post-war buildings energy neutral. A mechanical ventilation system was included in the facade. Research showed that people did not trust such a system and preferred to use their windows, resulting in energy loss.

My goal was to make the use of a mechanical ventilation system more intuitive, by designing a physical product that makes ventilation convenient and quick to control. ROWI mimics the use of a window, but also gives feedback on the indoor air quality. This way, it improves air quality and sustainability, even when the user is not aware of this or interested in it.

This project was particularly interesting because I found a viable solution to a problem which many people don’t know how to deal with or simply don’t care about, while offering significant environmental and health improvements.

The prototype was selected from a group of 20 to be displayed at an exhibition in the main hall of WoonWijzerWinkel, at Heijplaat in Rotterdam, where it was on display for a year. Woontlekker, an energy neutral living blog website wrote a blog post with video about the product (in Dutch).