荷蘭除霾塔即將在中國開啓戰霾之旅
A 23-Foot-Tall Air Purifier Gets a Tryout in Smoggy Beijing
荷蘭“除霾塔”即將在中國開啓戰霾之旅
Rather than the screens, sensors, microchips and Big Data typically employed by Smart City designers, Daan Roosegaarde works with a more fanciful tool kit: smog-eating machines, light-emitting plankton and solar-sensitive paint.
相比智慧城市設計師通常運用的屏幕、感應器、微芯片和大數據，丹·羅斯格德(Daan Roosegaarde)使用的工具更加別出心裁：吞噬霧霾的機器、發光浮游生物和太陽光敏油漆。
“When we talk about innovation today, it’s screen-based, but Smart City is not about another app or microchip,” said Mr. Roosegaarde, whose design firm, Studio Roosegaarde, is based in Rotterdam in the Netherlands. “Big Data is important, but things can go wrong if we only focus on technology and forget to connect with people and to connect people with their environment.”
“如今當我們說起創意，大多和屏幕有關，但智慧城市不是再研發一個應用或微芯片，”羅斯格德說。他的設計公司羅斯格德工作室(Studio Roosegaarde)總部設在荷蘭的鹿特丹。“大數據很重要，但如果我們只關注技術而忽略與人的連接，忘記將人與環境聯繫起來，就會出現問題。”
It is that sort of philosophy that led Mr. Roosegaarde and his partners to create the Smog Free Tower, the world’s first outdoor air cleaner. Just 23 feet tall, it looks like a miniature chrome-latticed skyscraper. But inside, a powerful vacuum uses ionization technology to suck up smog, filter out the dangerous particles and release purified air. Mr. Roosegaarde contends that in 36 hours it can eliminate 70 to 80 percent of the impurities in the air from an area the size of a football stadium.
正是在這種理念的引導下，羅斯格德和他的合夥人創造了世界上首座戶外空氣淨化器“除霾塔”(Smog Free Tower)。它只有23英尺（約合7米）高，看起來像微縮版的鉻合金框架摩天樓。但它的內部有一臺功能強大的真空吸塵器，利用電離技術吸入霧霾，濾掉其中的有害顆粒，然後排出淨化後的空氣。羅斯格德稱，這臺機器可以在36小時內淨化一個足球場大小的空間內70%至80%的空氣。
The tower was co-designed by Mr. Roosegaarde and various experts, then tested in Rotterdam. But now it is about to take on a much bigger challenge: China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection recently commissioned Mr. Roosegaarde to temporarily install the tower at a public location in Beijing in September to see how well it performs in the catastrophically smoggy air that is choking China’s largest cities. It will then go on a sort of smog-fighting tour, with related educational events, to four other Chinese cities over the next year.
這座塔由羅斯格德和各領域的專家共同設計，之後在鹿特丹進行了測試。不過現在它將接受一項大得多的挑戰：中國環境保護部最近委託羅斯格德於9月在北京的一個公共場地臨時安裝這種淨化塔，看看它在淨化有巨大危害的霧霾空氣方面表現如何。這樣的空氣正在令中國最大的幾座城市的民衆感到窒息。之後，它將在接下來的一年裏前往其他四座中國城市，展開一場戰霾之旅，還會舉辦相關教育活動。
Neither the Chinese nor Mr. Roosegaarde are under the illusion that the tower will make any real difference in China’s overall air quality.
中國人和羅斯格德均未抱有幻想，以爲這樣一座塔可以讓中國的總體大氣質量產生實質變化。
Liu Guozheng, deputy director of the China Forum of Environmental Journalists, a part of the environment ministry, said the Chinese would have to undertake a much more ambitious effort to get at the roots of smog. “However, the role of the Smog Free Tower as a warning sign is still very significant,” he said. “It is a reminder of our mission and responsibility to fight against smog issues.”
在環保部旗下中國環境新聞工作者協會擔任祕書長的劉國正表示，要應對霧霾問題的根源，中國需要進行大膽得多的嘗試。“不過，除霾塔起到的警示作用仍然非常重要，”他說。“它能提醒我們抗擊霧霾問題的使命和責任。”
Ma Jun, an environmental activist in Beijing, echoed that view, calling the Smog Free Tower project a form of “performance art” aimed at raising awareness about air pollution.
北京的環保活動人士馬軍也贊同這一觀點。他將除霾塔項目稱作一種“行爲藝術”，旨在提高有關大氣污染的意識。
But Mr. Roosegaarde considers it a first step.
不過，羅斯格德認爲這是邁出的第一步。
And aside from whatever effect it has on the environment, the tower is significant for the entrepreneurship it represents.
此外，除了對環境可能產生的影響，除霾塔所代表的創新精神也有其重要性。
“This signals how cities are finding new ways to solve problems, paving the way for new ideas from a much more diverse community of entrepreneurs, innovators and citizens,” said Sascha Haselmayer of Citymart, a New York-based consultancy that helps cities solve problems and share solutions.
“這顯示了城市在尋找新的方式來解決問題，爲創業人士、發明家和居民組成的多樣化社羣想出新點子開闢道路，”諮詢機構Citymart的薩沙·哈塞邁耶(Sascha Haselmayer)說。Citymart的總部位於紐約，幫助各大城市應對問題並分享解決方案。
Mr. Roosegaarde said both the Chinese government and his group would monitor the air around the tower, which uses 1,400 watts of electricity per day, roughly that of an electric kettle.
羅斯格德稱，來自中國政府和他所在機構的人員將對這座除霾塔附近的空氣進行監測。它的功率爲1400瓦，與電水壺相當。
One byproduct of the project is as imaginative as the tower itself: The carbon particles extracted from the air will be compressed and sealed in acrylic in the form of rings, cuff links and cubes, and then sold. The proceeds will be put toward the development and construction of more towers.
這個項目的一個副產品與除霾塔本身一樣充滿想象力：從空氣中提取的碳顆粒會被壓縮並封存到亞克力中，製成戒指、袖釦和小方塊出售。由此得來的收益將被用於推進更多除霾塔的研發與建設工作。
Mr. Roosegaarde, 36, said the keepsakes were offered during a crowdfunding campaign that provided the initial 113,000 euros, or around $125,000, for the tower. Rings were given to people who donated 250 euros. He said he had received preorders for 1,600 pieces, mostly rings, at a comparable price.
現年36歲的羅斯格德說，衆籌活動爲除霾塔貢獻了初始的11.3萬歐元（約合83.2萬元人民幣），而這些紀念品就是在這次活動中提供的。捐贈250歐元，即可得到戒指。他透露，自己收到了1600個預訂單，多數是爲了訂戒指，價格與之差不多。
The project’s prototype, which was based on existing technology for purification systems in hospitals and parking garages, took two years to develop at a cost of “around a million euros,” Mr. Roosegaarde said. In addition to the crowdfunding, the City of Rotterdam; the Port of Rotterdam; Stichting Doen, a Dutch foundation; and Studio Roosegaarde provided financial support.
項目的原型機基於目前在醫院和停車場淨化系統裏使用的技術。羅斯格德表示，花了兩年時間研發，用了“100萬歐元左右”。除了衆籌得來的錢，鹿特丹市政府、鹿特丹港口、荷蘭的Doen基金會(Stichting Doen)與羅斯格德工作室也提供了資金支持。
An early adviser to Studio Roosegaarde was Bob Ursem, a nanoparticles expert at the Delft University of Technology, who devised a method for positively charging particles to extract them from the air.
代爾夫特理工大學(Delft University of Technology)的納米顆粒物專家鮑勃·烏爾塞姆(Bob Ursem)爲羅斯格德工作室擔任了早期顧問。他設計出了一種讓顆粒物帶上正電荷從而從空氣中提取出來的辦法。
Mr. Roosegaarde said the idea for the Smog Free Tower came about during a 2013 trip to Beijing, when he learned the blanket of smog was so bad that the city’s children could not play outdoors for part of the year.
羅斯格德表示，除霾塔的想法源於他2013年的北京之行。他那時得知，席捲北京的霧霾極爲嚴重，導致一年中有些時候孩子們無法去室外玩耍。
The tower has prompted inquiries from other cities, including Mexico City, New Delhi and Mumbai in India, and Santiago, Chile.
他的除霾塔還引發了其他一些城市的興趣，包括墨西哥城、印度的新德里和孟買，以及智利的聖地亞哥。
The project typifies the Roosegaarde gestalt: technology and social relevance, connectivity and poetry joined together to create a way of experiencing the urban landscape. “What stories will people tell breathing the cleaner air around the towers?” he said. “In my life, physical experiences changed me, made me look at things differently. My job is to create this atmosphere.”
這個項目體現了羅斯格德的完形：具有技術與社會意義，聯通性與詩意結合在一起，從而創造一種體驗都市景觀的方式。“在塔周圍呼吸着較爲清新空氣的人會講述怎樣的故事呢？”他問道。“在我的生命中，身體體驗會改變我，讓我產生不同的視角。我的工作就是創造這種氣氛。”
The son of a math teacher, Mr. Roosegaarde grew up in the lake countryside of Nieuwkoop, in the western Netherlands. Then the country boy went urban.
羅斯格德出生在數學教師家庭，在荷蘭西部的鄉村湖區新科普長大。然後，這個鄉下男孩進了城。
“I’m a guy who fell in love with cities and places before girls,” he said. “At 16, it was, ‘Ah, Antwerp.’”
“愛上姑娘之前，我就愛上了城市之類的地方，”他說。“16歲的時候，我就想着，‘啊，安特衛普！’”
After studying art and architecture, he decided to stay in Rotterdam, because it “has the can-do attitude of a harbor city,” he said. “It gives us the context to test ideas and make a mistake.”
學習了藝術與建築之後，他決定留在鹿特丹，因爲那裏“擁有港口城市的進取精神，”他說。“讓我有了環境來嘗試不同的理念，允許我犯錯。”
He opened Studio Roosegaarde, situated in a more than 10,000-square-foot former glass factory near the harbor. It typically employs a team of 15 designers, engineers and support staff members but can grow to as many as 30 as experts are added for specific projects.
他開設了羅斯格德工作室，坐落在面積逾一萬平方英尺的廢棄玻璃廠裏，離港口不遠。公司通常僱有15人，由設計師、工程師與後勤人員組成，不過要是特定項目需要添一些專家的話，團隊規模可能漲至30人。
Apart from the Smog Free Tower, other Roosegaarde projects that are eliciting international interest are the Smart Highway and the Van Gogh Bicycle Path, in collaboration with Heijmans, the Dutch infrastructure services company. Both projects use paint that is charged by sunlight during the day and glows at night.
除了除霾塔，羅斯格德另有兩個項目在吸引國際關注：與荷蘭基礎設施服務公司Heijmans合作的智能公路(Smart Highway)和梵高自行車道(Van Gogh Bicycle Path)。兩個項目均採用可以白天在陽光下充電、晚上發光的塗料。
The highway paint (the pilot project is in the Dutch city of Oss) glows green and is bright enough to eliminate the need for streetlights. The bicycle path (in Eindhoven) is a multicolored swirl inspired by Van Gogh’s work.
智能公路上用的塗料（試點項目在荷蘭的奧斯市進行）會發出綠光，亮度足以讓路燈變得沒有必要。（在艾恩德霍芬進行的）自行車道項目則以梵高的作品爲靈感，色彩繽紛，蜿蜒曲折。
Another project involves harvesting light-producing marine plankton called dinoflagellates to produce a liquid that glows at night. “We are working on improving the quality of life for the organism, the intensity of light it creates and eliminating the smell,” he said. “The idea is to light up a bicycle path with a river of light that is 100 percent natural.”
還有一個項目涉及採集產光的海洋浮游生物雙鞭毛藻來生產夜間發光的液體。“我們在努力改進這種生物的生命質量、它的產光強度，同時去掉它的氣味，”他說。“目標是用百分之百的自然光線流來點亮一整條自行車道。”
He describes himself as a futurist focused on the present.
羅斯格德將自己描述爲注重當下的未來主義者。
“I’m not saying I have all the answers. It’s about thinking in proposals, not opinions. You do it by building stuff, showing it.”
“並不是說，我擁有一切的答案。關鍵是以建議的方式思考問題，而不是妄下判斷。做事的手法是打造東西，把它展示出來。”
