Penn Climate Seminar with Dorit Aviv

Penn Climate is excited to partner with the Penn Institute for Urban Research to welcome Professor Dorit Aviv to the Penn Climate Seminar Series on Wednesday, November 12, for her talk Rethinking the future of cooling: combatting rising heat without air conditioning. Aviv is an Assistant Professor of Architecture at the Weitzman School of Design and the director of the Thermal Architecture Lab, a cross-disciplinary laboratory at the intersection of thermodynamics, architecture, and material science.

Aviv's research focuses on decarbonizing the built environment by developing solutions to challenges like cooling, air quality, and energy performance. Her work harnesses innovative materials and architectural forms that embrace natural cooling principles. Aviv developed the Hydroculus, an evaporative cooling roof chimney for desert climates that uses hydrogel membranes to naturally cool and humidify air. Recently, she led the creation of the KlimaKover pavilion on New York's Governors Island, a publicly accessible demonstration of membrane-assisted radiant cooling as a scalable alternative to traditional air conditioning. These projects show how architectural design can provide comfort and reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions.

Aviv holds a PhD in architectural technology and an M.Arch from Princeton University. Before joining Penn, she taught at The Cooper Union, Pratt Institute, and Princeton University. Her work has been supported by federal grants from the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, and the National Park Service. She received the Holcim Award for Sustainable Design and Construction in 2021, and her research has been published in several journals, including Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Applied Energy, and Nature Scientific Reports. She has also been featured in media outlets like NPR, Scientific American, and Architectural Record.