AIR APPARENT
Architecture professor Jefferson Ellinger is testing an innovative solution to bring the benefits of fresh outdoor air to an enclosed spaceBy Meg Whalen
Photos by Amy Hart
If there’s one thing the COVID-19 pandemic and a wave of catastrophic forest fires have taught us, it’s that the air you breathe can make you sick. And in a country where the average person spends 90% of their time indoors, good indoor air is especially important.
More than a decade ago, well before coronavirus became a household word, Associate Professor of Architecture Jefferson Ellinger began using his design expertise to improve air quality.
“Part of the mission of being an architect is to protect the health, safety and welfare of the public.”
– Jefferson Ellinger
Certainly, good air is necessary for good health: Dozens of studies demonstrate that the high levels of carbon dioxide and volatile organic compounds typically found inside buildings — not to mention molds, bacteria and viruses — impair cognition and raise the risk for a host of diseases. But good air is not necessarily “clean,” and the sophisticated air purifying systems that are becoming increasingly popular, Ellinger said, “remove everything from the air, making it sterile, so then the building surfaces and airstream become populated with human pathogens that are brought in by the building occupants.”
Ideally, the air in an office building would be as healthful as fresh, unpolluted air outside. Working with a team of former colleagues from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Ellinger began to investigate ways to bring the benefits of fresh outdoor air to an enclosed space. Establishing the company Fresh Air Building Systems, they developed AMPS, or Active Modular Phytoremediation System, a plant wall that can be integrated into a building’s HVAC system.
Bringing the outdoors in
“Introducing plants reintroduces healthy microbiota into the environment, which can reduce the concentration of human pathogens,” said Ellinger. And like trees outdoors, the plants remove carbon dioxide and particulate matter from the air.
After years of research, Ellinger has found that pothos plants are best.
Here’s how the AMPS biofiltration system works.
First, there are the plants. From more than a dozen varieties tested, pothos (also known as devil’s ivy) has emerged as the plant of choice. “It’s a super robust, hardy plant,” said Ellinger, “and good at removing carbon dioxide.”
The plants grow in an engineered growing media that discourages mold spores from forming. “It’s a combination of activated carbon and Growstones (made of recycled glass) and engineered clay,” described Ellinger.
The wall, which Ellinger designs according to the space it will occupy, is a sort of honeycomb structure of Glass Fiber Reinforced Plastic on a steel frame. Each plant has its own nook, its own LED “grow light,” and water from an integrated irrigation system.
The AMPS is connected to the HVAC system, and as fans draw air through the plants’ root rhizosphere (the micro-ecosystem surrounding the root ball), microbes on the roots eat contaminants that are in the air.
Architecture firm Gresham Smith partnering on living lab
Ellinger adjusts the plants in the Gresham Smith office.
This summer, Ellinger and his graduate research assistants constructed an AMPS in the Storrs Fabrication Lab on campus and installed it in the new offices of Gresham Smith architecture firm in uptown Charlotte. The project is the newest outcome of a multi-year partnership that Gresham Smith has had with the David R. Ravin School of Architecture’s design computation program, a dual graduate degree program with the Department of Software and Information Systems that Ellinger directs. Since 2019, Gresham Smith has sponsored architectural studios, supporting students’ research. It is an effort to close the gap between academia and design practice, said Sivilay Xayasaene, NCIDQ, CDT, senior interior designer at Gresham Smith.
“Gresham Smith is proud of our ongoing partnership with UNC Charlotte. This partnership is a merging of architecture and data science; we’re bringing machine learning and algorithms into the design development process with the goal of improving our processes, services and work product.”
Xayasaene said the “living wall” will provide fresh air to the office conference room.
“The goal is to use the system to improve indoor air quality, reduce energy consumption and improve building occupants’ health, well-being and productivity. This system not only ensures a healthier workspace but contributes to the overall sustainable design of the office, which is key to our core values.”
– Sivilay Xayasaene
Graduate student Daniel Najarro was part of the Gresham Smith AMPS team, designing mounts for switches and lighting, building the steel frame and helping to install the wall system in the uptown conference room.
“This is the first project I’ve seen from start to finish,” he said. “In education, a lot of things have been intangible. There’s a sense of satisfaction knowing that it is actually being used in an office space.”
– Daniel Najarro
Student, Daniel Najarro (left) and Jefferson Ellinger (right)
Coming to UNC Charlotte from UNC Greensboro, where he earned a degree in interior architecture, Najarro said the project has made him think differently about inside space and wellness, knowledge that he will take with him as he pursues a career designing office spaces and perhaps even health care settings.
Studying ‘yogurt for buildings’
The AMPS at Gresham Smith and a smaller portable model for campus provide opportunities for further development and research, said Ellinger. With dual degree graduate students Sharaa Norouzi Talkhounche and Subham Sah, he is designing a machine learning system that will optimize the performance of the AMPS. Sensors will monitor carbon dioxide levels and responsively modify when the plants are watered, how long the lights are on and how fast the fans blow to achieve the best air quality in the space.
Ellinger adjusts the AMPS control system, which operates the lights, fans, and watering system.
“Carbon dioxide is a good way to monitor air quality in the system,” Ellinger said. “It’s a good indicator of other pollutants.”
Cynthia Gibas, a professor in the Department of Bioinformatics and Genomics in the College of Computing and Informatics, is hoping to take the research even further. A specialist in microbial genomics, she uses DNA sequencing to identify which organisms are present in the environment and led the University’s COVID-19 wastewater monitoring effort. More recently, she has turned her attention to indoor air quality — how microbes build up in indoor spaces and what that means for human health.
In December 2022, Gibas learned of Ellinger’s AMPS research from a poster presentation by graduate research assistant Subham Sah. She said the installation provides a unique opportunity to test the impact of plants on a room’s microbiome, the “community of microscopic life — bacteria, viruses, fungi — that is everywhere.”
“What’s in the air? What’s on the surfaces? Do we see a change in the microbiome that is associated with the AMPS? Is it filtering something out or is it introducing something in?”
Gibas hopes to apply the advanced sampling, sequencing and computing equipment that her team acquired during their pandemic wastewater research to this new inquiry.
“We really have the expertise to do the microbiome research in house, and we also have the computational analysis and statistics in house, so it’s perfect.”
Gibas and Ellinger plan to seek grant funding to expand the research. Using a free-standing AMPS model developed with colleagues at SHoP architecture firm in New York City, Ellinger and his Fresh Air Building Systems partners have been testing its impact on indoor air quality. The HVAC integrated system at Gresham Smith will allow for more advanced studies.
“We’ve done the research to know that our system is filtering out pollutants,” he said. “Will it lessen the concentration of human pathogens? Could it diversify the building microbiome for a full office footprint?”
Like Gibas, Ellinger is interested ultimately in developing “probiotics” for the build environment.
“I call it yogurt for buildings.”
Meg Whalen is director of communications for the College of Arts + Architecture.
AIR APPARENT
Architecture professor Jefferson Ellinger is testing an innovative solution to bring the benefits of fresh outdoor air to an enclosed space
By Meg Whalen
Photos by Amy Hart
If there’s one thing the COVID-19 pandemic and a wave of catastrophic forest fires have taught us, it’s that the air you breathe can make you sick. And in a country where the average person spends 90% of their time indoors, good indoor air is especially important.
More than a decade ago, well before coronavirus became a household word, Associate Professor of Architecture Jefferson Ellinger began using his design expertise to improve air quality.
“Part of the mission of being an architect is to protect the health, safety and welfare of the public.”
– Jefferson Ellinger
Certainly, good air is necessary for good health: Dozens of studies demonstrate that the high levels of carbon dioxide and volatile organic compounds typically found inside buildings — not to mention molds, bacteria and viruses — impair cognition and raise the risk for a host of diseases. But good air is not necessarily “clean,” and the sophisticated air purifying systems that are becoming increasingly popular, Ellinger said, “remove everything from the air, making it sterile, so then the building surfaces and airstream become populated with human pathogens that are brought in by the building occupants.”
Ideally, the air in an office building would be as healthful as fresh, unpolluted air outside. Working with a team of former colleagues from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Ellinger began to investigate ways to bring the benefits of fresh outdoor air to an enclosed space. Establishing the company Fresh Air Building Systems, they developed AMPS, or Active Modular Phytoremediation System, a plant wall that can be integrated into a building’s HVAC system.
Bringing the outdoors in
“Introducing plants reintroduces healthy microbiota into the environment, which can reduce the concentration of human pathogens,” said Ellinger. And like trees outdoors, the plants remove carbon dioxide and particulate matter from the air.
After years of research, Ellinger has found that pothos plants are best.
Here’s how the AMPS biofiltration system works.
First, there are the plants. From more than a dozen varieties tested, pothos (also known as devil’s ivy) has emerged as the plant of choice. “It’s a super robust, hardy plant,” said Ellinger, “and good at removing carbon dioxide.”
The plants grow in an engineered growing media that discourages mold spores from forming. “It’s a combination of activated carbon and Growstones (made of recycled glass) and engineered clay,” described Ellinger.
The wall, which Ellinger designs according to the space it will occupy, is a sort of honeycomb structure of Glass Fiber Reinforced Plastic on a steel frame. Each plant has its own nook, its own LED “grow light,” and water from an integrated irrigation system.
The AMPS is connected to the HVAC system, and as fans draw air through the plants’ root rhizosphere (the micro-ecosystem surrounding the root ball), microbes on the roots eat contaminants that are in the air.
Architecture firm Gresham Smith partnering on living lab
Ellinger adjusts the plants in the Gresham Smith office.
This summer, Ellinger and his graduate research assistants constructed an AMPS in the Storrs Fabrication Lab on campus and installed it in the new offices of Gresham Smith architecture firm in uptown Charlotte. The project is the newest outcome of a multi-year partnership that Gresham Smith has had with the David R. Ravin School of Architecture’s design computation program, a dual graduate degree program with the Department of Software and Information Systems that Ellinger directs. Since 2019, Gresham Smith has sponsored architectural studios, supporting students’ research. It is an effort to close the gap between academia and design practice, said Sivilay Xayasaene, NCIDQ, CDT, senior interior designer at Gresham Smith.
“Gresham Smith is proud of our ongoing partnership with UNC Charlotte. This partnership is a merging of architecture and data science; we’re bringing machine learning and algorithms into the design development process with the goal of improving our processes, services and work product.”
Xayasaene said the “living wall” will provide fresh air to the office conference room.
“The goal is to use the system to improve indoor air quality, reduce energy consumption and improve building occupants’ health, well-being and productivity. This system not only ensures a healthier workspace but contributes to the overall sustainable design of the office, which is key to our core values.”
– Sivilay Xayasaene
Graduate student Daniel Najarro was part of the Gresham Smith AMPS team, designing mounts for switches and lighting, building the steel frame and helping to install the wall system in the uptown conference room.
“This is the first project I’ve seen from start to finish,” he said. “In education, a lot of things have been intangible. There’s a sense of satisfaction knowing that it is actually being used in an office space.”
– Daniel Najarro
Student, Daniel Najarro (left) and Jefferson Ellinger (right)
Coming to UNC Charlotte from UNC Greensboro, where he earned a degree in interior architecture, Najarro said the project has made him think differently about inside space and wellness, knowledge that he will take with him as he pursues a career designing office spaces and perhaps even health care settings.
Studying ‘yogurt for buildings’
The AMPS at Gresham Smith and a smaller portable model for campus provide opportunities for further development and research, said Ellinger. With dual degree graduate students Sharaa Norouzi Talkhounche and Subham Sah, he is designing a machine learning system that will optimize the performance of the AMPS. Sensors will monitor carbon dioxide levels and responsively modify when the plants are watered, how long the lights are on and how fast the fans blow to achieve the best air quality in the space.
Ellinger adjusts the AMPS control system, which operates the lights, fans, and watering system.
“Carbon dioxide is a good way to monitor air quality in the system,” Ellinger said. “It’s a good indicator of other pollutants.”
Cynthia Gibas, a professor in the Department of Bioinformatics and Genomics in the College of Computing and Informatics, is hoping to take the research even further. A specialist in microbial genomics, she uses DNA sequencing to identify which organisms are present in the environment and led the University’s COVID-19 wastewater monitoring effort. More recently, she has turned her attention to indoor air quality — how microbes build up in indoor spaces and what that means for human health.
In December 2022, Gibas learned of Ellinger’s AMPS research from a poster presentation by graduate research assistant Subham Sah. She said the installation provides a unique opportunity to test the impact of plants on a room’s microbiome, the “community of microscopic life — bacteria, viruses, fungi — that is everywhere.”
“What’s in the air? What’s on the surfaces? Do we see a change in the microbiome that is associated with the AMPS? Is it filtering something out or is it introducing something in?”
Gibas hopes to apply the advanced sampling, sequencing and computing equipment that her team acquired during their pandemic wastewater research to this new inquiry.
“We really have the expertise to do the microbiome research in house, and we also have the computational analysis and statistics in house, so it’s perfect.”
Gibas and Ellinger plan to seek grant funding to expand the research. Using a free-standing AMPS model developed with colleagues at SHoP architecture firm in New York City, Ellinger and his Fresh Air Building Systems partners have been testing its impact on indoor air quality. The HVAC integrated system at Gresham Smith will allow for more advanced studies.
“We’ve done the research to know that our system is filtering out pollutants,” he said. “Will it lessen the concentration of human pathogens? Could it diversify the building microbiome for a full office footprint?”
Like Gibas, Ellinger is interested ultimately in developing “probiotics” for the build environment.
“I call it yogurt for buildings.”
Meg Whalen is director of communications for the College of Arts + Architecture.
