Artica

Our planet is warming up. In urban areas and indoor spaces the temperature is artificially raised by human activities. Rising air temperatures combined with accumulated heat emissions from lighting, computers and other electronics contributes further to the indoor temperatures, resulting in stale, uncomfortable environments and unproductive working conditions.

Artica is a system to work with nature, not against it.

Artica is a low energy comfort cooling system. It requires less than 10 per cent of the energy of a conventional air conditioning system, and can easily be installed in new or existing buildings. It has low running, servicing and maintenance costs combined with a long working life and stands out from the competition with its natural, fresh and environmentally sound image, without the health risks associated with conventional air conditioning systems.

As energy prices increase, so will the savings for consumers, making Artica an increasingly attractive proposition in what is a potentially huge global market.

The Articans
Artica was born from a collaborative project between the RCA and Imperial College London. The original inventors and team members studied Industrial Design Engineering and include Karina Torlei, William Penfold, Daniel Becerra and Mathew Holloway.

Artica entered the Design London Business Incubator in 2009, as part of the second wave of incubatees. With the support and mentorship received from the Incubator, the team managed to grow their idea into a commercially successful enterprise, winning several high-profile awards, including the HSBC Start-Up Stars 2009 award, and the CNBC GoodEntrepreneur Competition 2009.

Artica exited the Incubator in May 2010, and in late 2010, was successfully acquired by Monodraught Limited, becoming part of a larger family of low energy ventilation systems, proving the commercial viability of incubated ventures. The system is now being sold as Cool-Phase®.