Research and design studio Farmlab has a truly unique idea to cool down cities while taking advantage of unused aerial space between buildings.

Called Oversky, it is based on the same technology that allows zeppelins to float. Modular structures would be combined into an occupiable cluster of rooms in the sky, connected to adjacent buildings or other fixed structures to enable access. 

A huge positive side effect of Oversky would be a reduction in urban heat, which will only increase as higher temperatures require an increased use of air conditioners, which in turn produce more urban heat.

“Our cities are heating up nearly twice the global average rate,” says Farmlab. “By 2050, the urban population exposed to extreme temperatures is estimated to increase by 800 percent. This growth will yield a corresponding momentous increase in energy demand for cooling.

“Even at the current levels, heatwaves are the deadliest of all climate risks, while cooling systems currently account for 10 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Our means and methods for keeping cool are making the globe even hotter, compounding the cooling needs.

“Oversky is a design research project that explores the capacity of a new urban infrastructural system, leveraging passive technologies, to cool our cities. Inspired by clouds, the modular system can float over and mitigate the effect of the areas largely responsible for the urban heat island phenomenon, road networks and parking lots, reclaiming this space for people while cooling down the neighbourhood.”

While it all sounds pie in the sky, or in this case, buildings in the sky, Farmlab says that the technology exists already to bring about Oversky.

Photos: Farmlab