Photo © CASE
Since 2000, the Center for Architecture Science and Ecology (CASE)—a collaboration between Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, in Troy, N.Y., and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill—has been trying to bring the fresh outdoor air inside. In 2009, CASE won an R+D Award from ARCHITECT for its Active Modular Phytoremediation System (AMPS), which uses plants to remove toxins—VOC, particulates, and pathogens—from mechanically supplied air before it is disseminated into occupied space.