The primary goal of this project was to adorn the existing AC vents in my apartment with something more interesting to look at. A secondary purpose I sought to achieve with this design was the addition of elements that can dictate airflow direction in a manner similar to the AC vents in cars.

Inspiration for this design originally came from natural formations deep in the Earth's oceans. While watching a documentary on deep sea marine life, I came across undersea vents which spew hot gasses and minerals near the ocean floor. These gases provide essential nutrients and oxygen for the surrounding marine animals who would not be able to survive in the harsh conditions otherwise. I looked at my AC vents and realized how similar this situation was for us humans, where the warm air from the AC served a parallel function during the colder winter months.

I designed a system of 36 vents arranged in 3 staggered rows which would echo the organic height distribution I saw in the documentary. The individual vents were them anchored into a base which was modeled to simulate the undulations on the sea floor, with nooks and crannies for small marine animals to seek shelter.

The individual towers are tubes with a square cross section at the bottom, transitioning to a slightly smaller circular section as they reach the top. Sizing for the towers ranges from 3 inches to 9 inches and were arranged to look as if they were organically growing out of the AC vent. Next, I resigned a cap element with an internal channel to direct the air out at a 45 degree angle. these are freely rotating on top of the tubes so they can be adjusted by the user to direct airflow in any direction of their choice by swiveling the cap accordingly.