New high-tech benches give new meaning to the phrase 'chilling out'

As cities around the world experience hotter temperatures, incredibly unique ways to keep cool are emerging.

City dwellers living in urban heat islands are often on the lookout for cool, shady places to seek refuge from the sun's intense rays during the day. As cities become ever hotter due to rising summer temperatures, Parisians are finding relief sitting atop an innovative cooling bench. It comes as sweltering heat recently produced new all-time high-temperature records in Europe.

“We have this problem of urban heat sinks, and we wanted to find an effective solution that we could put in place quickly and improve services during heatwave periods,” Engineer Arnaud Sanson told The Connexion.

The bench uses geothermal passive cooling technology. Passive cooling techniques use ambient cooling factors like building material, air, water and the night sky to mitigate the rise in temperature of something due to heat sources such as hot air and sun. The 'climate bench' utilizes the principle of a Canadian or Provencal well which is a system that uses subsoil temperatures to either cool or warm structures above ground.

Innovative new bench design cools down people who take a seat. (Ruptly)

Instead of soil, the bench pulls air through vents on its surface from existing underground pipes and offers a draft of cool air to anyone seated on the bench. The fan turns on automatically when the outside temperature rises higher than 77 degrees Fahrenheit (25 degrees Celsius).

“A fan sucks air from 10 meters underground and comes to blow it in the bench, which is hollow. The air travels through all its holes. There is really a sensation of a ‘cold cushion,’” Sanson explained, noting the air from underground is around 68 F (20 C).

The air is an average of 68 F (20 C) and is pumped through the bench via existing pipe networks in the Paris underground. (Ruptly)

The ‘climate bench’ is a prototype made of a stone specifically chosen for its cooling ability. “We chose a chalky, marble-like stone from Bourgogne, which has ‘effusivity’ properties, meaning that it stays cool to the touch, even during heatwave conditions," designer Emma Lelong, told FranceInfo. “Working with this material allowed us to create modular systems, which do not block the public space.”

People out and about on a hot day in Paris enjoy the cool bench. (Ruptly)

The $22,000 (€19,000) cost was paid for by Faire, a group that facilitates the launch of innovative architectural and urban inventions. The bench has been on display and available for public use in the Place Jeanne-d’Arc in the 13th arrondissement and is set to stay in place until Sept. 15.

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