Keeping cool with KlimaKover
Welcome to cooling without air conditioning. If you’re reading this on Governors Island in New York, you’re about to step into the first full-scale pilot of a new way to keep cool in cities.
Contact
Director, Innovation and Sustainability, Partner
Kritika Kharbanda
Head of Sustainability, LEED AP BD+C
KlimaKover is designed to tackle one of the most pressing challenges of our time: how we adapt to rising urban heat. As heat waves intensify, traditional air-conditioning shows its limits; expensive, energy-hungry and confined indoors. KlimaKover offers an alternative: a low-energy system that uses 10 times less energy than conventional air conditioning and brings affordable cooling comfort to public spaces.
This temporary pavilion is just the beginning. Imagine KlimaKover shading a schoolyard, covering a bus queue, protecting a street vendor, or bringing relief to a construction site. In 2026, the installation will travel across New York City in collaboration with local partners, helping us test these possibilities at scale.
“Research with our partners at the University of Pennsylvania shows that the panels start to cool your body within 5 minutes, when the effect becomes apparent, and by 20 minutes the cooling sensation is pronounced.”
Kritika Kharbanda
Head of Sustainability
Behind its simple form is a system that is modular, mobile, and adaptable across climates. Each 4’ x 4’ panel provides radiant comfort in both cooling and heating modes without producing condensation. The design employs strategies like solar orientation, natural ventilation, and radiant cooling, while a fabric-shaded roof encourages breezes to flow, reduces heat, and generates renewable energy. Built for disassembly, it can expand or adapt to different sites, from temporary pavilions to permanent structures.
KlimaKover has been made possible by the Ramboll Foundation, together with the University of Pennsylvania and Ramboll, with contributions from AIL Research, Fast+Epp, SKANSKA, SITU, Trust for Governors Island, Cambium, Mecho, Springs Window Fashions, Ontility, a brand of TERREPOWER, KM Associates of New York, Inc., and Tectonic Engineering.
The pavilion will be open to the public from late summer until November 2025. What we learn here will shape how KlimaKover can adapt to other cities and climates. For now, step inside, feel the difference, and imagine where else this could make an impact.
