Cool Ideas for a Hot Planet: Rethinking Air Conditioning with Sebastian Clark Koch

A t this year’s Venice Architecture Biennale, architect and climate technologist Sebastian Clark Koch moderated a timely and urgent session: “Designing for Thermal Equity in the Age of Extremes.” Bringing together leading voices in architecture, environmental science, and policy, the session explored how climate-adaptive design can bridge the growing gap between those with and without access to safe, sustainable cooling, drawing on lessons learned from and for the Global South and highlighting how local innovations can inform and shape a more resilient global future.

It’s a subject that lies at the core of Koch’s work. As climate change intensifies and summers become hotter worldwide, the demand for air conditioning is skyrocketing. Yet, traditional air conditioning systems are a double-edged sword. While they provide life-saving comfort, they are also among the most energy-intensive and environmentally damaging technologies in widespread use. Koch is reimagining the very idea of cooling, designing systems that keep people comfortable without heating the planet.

Rethinking comfort in the Anthropocene, Koch, known for his radical design work at the intersection of climate and architecture, believes that the future of cooling must align with planetary boundaries. In his research and consulting, he examines how we can move away from fossil-fueled cooling systems toward regenerative, low-energy, and passive solutions that not only reduce energy demand but also transform how we think about indoor space, comfort, and air itself. “The standard AC is a 20th-century solution to a 21st-century crisis,” Koch explains. “We need to design cooling systems that are adaptive, decentralized, and symbiotic with their environments.”

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