The Canary Clock Tower
Air pollution is an invisible poison on the streets of London, linked to around 30,000 deaths in the UK each year. The Royal College of Physicians identifies toxic air as a major contributor to cancer, heart disease, stroke and asthma. It kills more people annually than smoking and costs society, businesses and the NHS more than £27 billion every year.
One of the fundamental challenges in tackling air pollution is that it cannot be seen. Its invisibility allows us to move through the city with a false sense of security, unaware of the damage carried in the air around us. At this years Clerkenwell Design Festival we want to make the invisible visible, transforming an unseen threat into something legible, immediate and impossible to ignore.
The Canary Clock Tower is a tall sculptural marker for Clerkenwell Design Week inspired by Clerkenwell’s historic tradition of clockmaking. Just as a traditional clock reveals the passage of time, this tower reveals air quality in real time through a series of simple analogue dials made from recycled plastic. In doing so, it prompts designers and visitors to reflect on healthier and more sustainable materials, structures and environments.
