Air Conditioning as Art: Ancient Technique to Cool The Air
- Editor OGN Daily
- Jul 7
- 2 min read
A team of researchers at US university Virginia Tech has developed a concept for a 3D-printed, evaporative cooling system made of hollow clay columns that can be filled with sand and water.
The system, which can cool the surrounding air by up to 10 degrees Fahrenheit (5.56 degrees Celsius), has been formatted into a wall partition and is currently undergoing testing. The clay structures double as art pieces while cooling down the surrounding air.
How do they work? When warm air passes through the porous columns, which contain sand and water, the latter evaporates and cools the air. While the artwork is modern, the “evaporative cooling technique” is ancient, going as far back as 2500 B.C. when people in Egypt would fan jars of water to cool the air. “We’re trying to get the best of those types of ancient techniques but put them in a modern context and see how we could optimize it further,” Stefan Al, an architect who helped come up with the new concept.
Whilst the 3D-printed columns make neat looking wall partitions, the materials could also be deployed to create other cooling structures, like chairs or building facades. “The beauty of this technology is you have free cooling,” Al said, “all you need to do is put water through it.”
The underlying principle - that water absorbs heat as it evaporates, which lowers the temperature - has been harnessed for at least 4,500 years. Ancient Egyptians used wind catchers in combination with evaporative water systems. In the Middle East, people filled porous clay jars with water and placed them near latticed windows, so the air passing through the window would help the water inside the jar evaporate and cool the air inside the home. These techniques are still in use in parts of the world today - such as wind catchers in Iran - but most people have now switched to energy intensive air-conditioning.
"In contrast to AC, which is always hidden, this could be beautiful, and could be seen, and raise people's understanding and appreciation of these old techniques that are much more sustainable in making us feel comfortable," Al says.