Studio Roosegaarde has built a light that uses ultraviolet radiation to sanitise outdoor spaces, claiming this could reduce the risk of people contracting Covid-19.
Urban Sun uses far-UVC, a type of ultraviolet light with a lower wavelength that is thought to kill viruses while potentially posing a lower health risk to humans.
Urban Sun was unveiled in a launch event in Rotterdam
Studio founder Daan Roosegaarde told Dezeen that the aim is to make public gatherings possible for the first time since Covid-19 became a global epidemic.
"We can make places up to 99.9 per cent virus-free in minutes, depending on weather and location, so the chance of getting sick or infecting each other is strongly diminished," he said.
Roosegaarde added that the lamp could sanitise the cone of air beneath it as little as two minutes, dependent on factors including height. However, a November 2020 report in the science journal Nature suggests that it can take up to 11.5 minutes for far-UVC light to destroy up to 99.9 per cent of airborne coronavirus particles.
The device claims to clean public spaces of coronavirus using far-UVC light
Studio Roosegaarde claims that Urban Sun could help make locations such as train stations, schools and public squares safer.
It works by being installed overhead on a system of cables, so it can shine a large cone of sanitising light onto a space below.
"The goal is not to say that we don't need the vaccine or we that don't need masks," said Ro...