Trees and plants clean the air, but what if façades could? 570 Broome, a new condominium building in New York City designed by Builtd, will be wrapped in a new façade material that uses sunshine to turn contaminating agents into water vapour and salt. The exterior will remove the impact of 2,000 cars per year, which is the equivalent of 500 trees.

The condominium is located in the West Soho neighbourhood. The façade consists of sintered stone slabs by Neolith. These stone slabs are treated with an air-cleaning coating called Pureti, an aqueous and titanium dioxide nanoparticle based treatment.

When this coating comes into contact with light, the titanium dioxide particles are activated, using the light energy to transform moisture in the air into oxidising agents, which destroy nitrogen dioxide particles and transform them into water vapour and salt. This process is known as photocatalysis and is repeated millions of times per second until all contaminants are destroyed.

In addition to cleaning the air, the coating makes the façade self-cleaning. The coating is super hydrophobic. Water expands evenly on the surface and slides off, taking dirt with it without leaving water marks. The technology is also anti-bacterial, anti-allergen, and anti-odour.

Because the 570 Broome condominium is 25 storeys tall, the façade has a lot of surface area (2,000 square metres). The stone material has the same impact of removing 2,000 cars from the road, or 500 trees. The condominium will be completed at the end of 2018.

Photos: Buildt