THERMOTERRA

Solar-powered Cooling Bench

ThermoTerra is a cooling corner on Penn’s campus, bringing together advanced technology, natural materials, and living trees. Rising through earth-based cement shells, the trees shade cooled benches, creating a refuge from summer heat.

Made with diatomaceous-earth-rich cement, the benches are embedded with water tubes chilled using locally harvested solar energy. As you sit or lie on the bench, your body releases heat directly through contact with the cooled surface, while natural breezes flow freely around you.

This low-energy technology, paired with renewable energy, trees, and carbon-storing cement, offers a new model for outdoor cooling—keeping people cool while storing carbon rather than releasing it into the atmosphere.

Project Team: Eliott Haddad, Hanzhong Luo, Yuan-Ching Yu

Heat pump and solar power system: Eric Teitelbaum

Cement recipe: Shu Yang Group

Funding: Penn Climate