Milan now has its first building that works like a tree

Why we write about this topic:

According to the European Commission, buildings are one of the main sources of emissions. Making them more environmentally friendly is a crucial step towards a more sustainable future.

Open 336 is an office building inaugurated on September 28 in Milan’s Bicocca district, Italy. What’s so special about it? It can absorb CO₂ and release oxygen – just like trees do. The project was made possible by Barings Real Estate – an American investment company – joined by Savills Investment and Fervo Group. Open 336 is designed by the architectural firm Park Associati, writes Fervo Group in a press release.

Leveraging Fervo Group’s technology, buildings can behave as if they were trees. What’s more, they can filter carbon dioxide with a greater filtering power – about eight times higher than the natural one. The building is located in Viale Sarca 336 – in the North Eastern part of Milan.

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The filtering system

The air treatment system captures and stores much of the carbon dioxide present in the outside atmosphere, then releases cleaner, oxygen-rich air into the building. The Eco2Air® filter is made of organic, biodegradable material, and is recovered and reused in other processes in a circular economy. Once saturated after 600 hours of use, the filter can be emptied, regenerated, and safely reused for up to seven years. But there is more. The air treatment plant is connected thanks in real time to a platform called FEAMS®, which, through multiple sensors, reads all consumption and operation parameters in real time. The platform signals not only any failures but also works as a predicting maintenance tool, thanks to artificial intelligence algorithms.