Heat is the top weather-related cause of death worldwide. Each year in the U.S., heat stress kills an average of 702 people, according to CDC data, and sends some 68,000 more to emergency rooms. In 2021, hundreds died in a single week when a one-in-a-thousand-year heat event drove temperatures in the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia to unprecedented levels. This year’s early heat wave across much of the South, Midwest, and Southeast inflicted dangerously high temperatures on tens of millions, with the heat index, a measure that takes account of temperature and humidity, soaring as high as 120 degrees Fahrenheit. In response to heat-related suffering, and with climate change predicted to increase heat wave frequency, duration, and intensity, there are calls for building standards to mandate air-conditioning. But air-conditioning alone isn’t going to cut it. This is a job for design.

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