Dehli Lung
Developed in January 2016 in New Delhi, Delhi Lung is a site-specific public art installation that serves as a low-tech "printer" of environmental crisis. Commissioned to create a month-long public intervention, the studio focused on the city's extreme air pollution—documented at the time as some of the most toxic in the world. The project was conceptualized to transform abstract data and PM 2.5 levels into a tangible, visual witness of the city's atmospheric health, making the invisible reality of pollution undeniable to its citizens.
The design team conceived the installation as a massive mechanical lung. The structure, measuring approximately 3.5 x 3.5 x 3 meters, was built using a bamboo framework held together with jute rope—materials sourced from local bazaars and assembled in close collaboration with local craftsmen and students from the IIFA in Modinagar. Technically, the "machine" functioned by using 21 domestic fans that continuously sucked the city's air and blew it through 36 meters of thin muslin fabric. Over its thirty-day performance, the white fabric acted as paper, while the airborne pollution particles served as ink, slowly "printing" the decay of the environment onto the textile.
The studio’s approach emphasized "pro-cycling" and local integration. Every material used in the construction was selected for its ability to be returned to the local industrial or social cycle; the fans remained intact for future use, and the bamboo and jute were easily recyclable. By placing this "sick lung" in the public space, the team provided a physical record of exposure time and geo-location, capturing a visual evidence of the air that a resident—likened in medical studies to a heavy smoker—breathes daily.
As a significant research milestone, Delhi Lung exemplifies the studio’s ability to use design as a tool for social awareness and "spatial scanning." It moves beyond functional furniture into the realm of architectural activism, proving that by using basic industrial components and traditional craft, the design team can reveal the hidden metabolisms of our global cities. The project stands as a provocative statement on the role of the designer in documenting and communicating the environmental challenges of the 21st century.