A prototype of adiabatic cooling

This prototype designed by AREP proposes a natural alternative to air conditioning. It was shortlisted in an international call for projects and presented at the 2021 Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urban Planning, whose theme was “CROSSROADS, Building the Resilient City”.

It addresses an issue that is global in scope but resonates strongly in Vietnam, one of the most vulnerable countries to the effects of climate change. Extreme heat waves have already been occurring with increasing frequency during summer. However, modern air-conditioning solutions, commonly used to deal with extreme heat, require a considerable amount of energy, which has a high environmental cost as it comes from coal-fired power stations generating atmospheric pollution and affecting human health. Could there be a solution for cooling cities and public spaces without using energy or refrigerant gas? Our project in Vietnam addressed this challenging question by drawing inspiration from a natural process used for centuries by ancient civilisations: the adiabatic principle.

Adiabatic cooling only requires hot air and water. It relies on a simple premise: when water evaporates, it uses energy. This energy is “absorbed” by the heat of the ambient air, a process which automatically generates a natural cooling by 6 degrees when one is nearby. All that was left to do was to imagine a functional and inexpensive system using a minimum of resources for a maximum of freshness. To achieve this, AREP combined cutting-edge digital tools with local craftsmanship in an innovative way.