Coolth Complex
project impact
Coolth Complex is a temporary pavilion co-designed with socially vulnerable members of the Glebe community to reduce the effects of thermal inequity and promote social cohesion and resilience. The pavilion utilises direct-evaporative cooling principles in its semi-enclosed structure to afford a heat refuge to those with inequitable access to heat prevention strategies.
technical scope
Literature review · community interviews · co-design workshops · concept design · concept validation
year
2021
my role
Service Designer
client
Cooling the Commons (UTS)
status
Fully detailed, unbuilt
project outcome
Three workshops run: two in-person co-design sessions with community members and one with academics working in the field. 10 residents took part across the project. Fully detailed for fabrication; not built.
My contribution: service design within a participatory design methodology. I conducted the literature review, community interviews and co-design workshops, then developed and validated the concept alongside Glebe residents.
Research focus: working with UTS's Cooling the Commons research group to understand how socially vulnerable residents experience extreme heat, and translating their insights into a shared heat refuge built on direct-evaporative cooling.
