As Temperature Conversations Heat Up, AEC Expert Offers Mitigation Tips
By Lindsey Coulter
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed legislation in December 2024 to require that all school districts in the state develop plans to mitigate extreme heat in classrooms. This legislation also required the establishment of support service spaces and a maximum allowable temperature. By setting clear guidelines for extreme heat conditions, the bill will help school leaders to ensure their spaces are conducive to student learning as well as health and safety.
“Extreme heat can significantly impact a student’s concentration, focus and ability to learn,” Gov. Hochul said in a statement. “With this new law, we are continuing to make the health and safety of our kids and educators a top priority and ensuring that every New York student has access to the safe and comfortable learning environment they deserve.”
The legislation establishes 88 degrees as the maximum temperature in classrooms and support service spaces. It also creates a definition of extreme heat condition days as well as a standard to measure room temperature. It further requires school districts to take action to relieve heat-related discomfort when classroom temperatures reach 82 degrees, such as turning off overhead lights, pulling down shades or blinds, turning on fans, and opening classroom doors and windows.
New York State Senator James Skoufis applauded the legislation as benefiting both students and educators. “I am grateful Governor Hochul signed the legislation and recognizes the importance of cooling during hot summer months —it is increasingly a necessity as each year gets warmer than the last,” Skoufis said.
While most states have yet to enact specific legislation regarding extreme temperatures, the effects of severe heat and cold on learning environments are becoming a more frequent concern. Colorado’s Boulder Valley School District has laid out heat index- and cold- weather-related health and safety guidelines, and the Arizona Department of Health Services issued a 20- page “Managing Extreme Heat Recommendations for Schools” document in 2021.
California’s School Extreme Heat Action Plan Act of 2023 (which did not advance) aimed to mitigate extreme temperatures by incorporating cool pavement technologies, natural grass, shrubs, trees, wood chips or other natural systems. The act would also have required the State Department of Education to develop a template for an extreme heat action plan.
Meanwhile, Hawaii’s 2016 sustainable schools initiative required classroom cooling measures and included $100 million in funding for ceiling fans, solar-powered vents and air conditioning units. In 2024, lawmakers doubled down, revising the initiative to include even loftier sustainability goals, aiming not just for classroom comfort but also net-zero energy use by 2035.
Changing climate and extreme temperatures are also a concern for architects that focus on K-12 and higher education facilities. On the heels of an August 2023 heat wave that forced multiple schools with non-existing or inadequate air-conditioning systems to cancel classes, Allison McKenzie, AIA, LEED AP, WELL AP, vice president and director of Environmental Responsibility at SHP, co-authored “School Design in the Era of Climate Change.” McKenzie urged fellow design professionals to prioritize resiliency in a changing climate, especially given the impact that thermal comfort has been shown to have on student performance and productivity, lowering cognitive function and focus.
“While we may not be able to solve global warming and climate change through architecture and design alone, there are strategies that can mitigate the effects of extreme weather on building occupants,” McKenzie said.
These strategies include incorporating:
- Cool roofs to reduce the transfer or buildup of heat, which can strain air conditioning units
- Tree cover and vegetation for shading
- Shading structures such as canopies and awnings to reduce heat buildup
- Solar energy production and storage systems to mitigate impacts rolling blackouts or grid failures
“If I were to write that article again, I would spend more time on assessing the client’s true risk for heat events, not just today, but in coming years,” McKenzie said. “There’s a lot of great data from NOAA and FEMA, and recently there have been some visualization tools put together online that show heat projections over time.”
McKenzie encourages school officials and designers to use these data and online resources to identify typical risk levels for droughts, heat waves, cold spells and other climate-related impacts.
However, HVAC systems remain a significant area of concern for many schools—and create an opportunity for designers to factor in resiliency and future operational needs based on data.
“A very real implication that we’re seeing in school design and other projects at SHP is HVAC sizing,” McKenzie said. “It’s probably not a great assumption to design systems today’s temperatures and conditions we are also seeing predictions of 90-plus-degree days rapidly increasing in some areas of the country. Especially when it comes to school buildings, which we hope will last a long time, they need to have that higher level of resilience.”
McKenzie encourages design teams to incorporate available data and visualization tools into design conversations with clients and to explore temperature scenarios.
“There are a good number of designers that know about these resources, but I’m sure there are quite a few that that don’t—or who are struggling to have that conversation with their clients about preparing for extreme temperatures,” McKenzie said.
McKenzie also notes that—as school buildings also tend to serve not just students, but entire communities— these buildings have even greater potential to be a valuable resource in times of extreme temperature, serving as cooling or warming centers and helping communities navigate brownouts and blackouts as energy demand surges.
Changes in climate and temperature trends are also encouraging McKenzie and fellow designers to reconsider project lifespans. While most school projects are still designed to serve for approximately 50 years, the SHP team regularly designs improvement and renovations projects for 80-90-year-old facilities.
“We have seen an uptick in the number of HVAC replacements, and replacements are happening on a more frequent replacement cycle,” McKenzie said.
For example, to ensure occupant safety and comfort, Cincinnati Public Schools asked SHP to replace the chilled water plant at Walnut Hill High School, the second-largest plant in its system. Previously, there were two chillers for a traditional chilled water loop and a third for a warmer temperature chilled beam loop. SHP engineers recommended a triplet arrangement with three identical chillers in parallel and a mixing valve to produce the chilled beam loop. Now, if a chiller is down for maintenance, the other two can supply all systems in the building.
As extreme temperature days become less isolated and increasingly stretch into weeks (and sometimes months, depending on geographical region), McKenzie also recommends investments in interior spaces that take a more holistic, human-centered approach to occupant comfort. Tenets of the WELL Building Standard, for example, incorporate air and water quality, lighting, opportunities for activity and fitness, overall comfort and impact on mental wellbeing—which all contribute to a better occupant experience.
In her 2023 article for SHP, McKenzie challenged fellow AEC professionals to create climate-resilient school buildings by taking newer and better approaches to design and construction, incorporating more durable materials, making classrooms flexible and adaptable for future use and opting for renewable power to minimize grid dependency—words that continue to resound in 2025.
“As climate change continues to dramatically transform our world, architects have a responsibility to address these looming impacts by including resilience approaches in their sustainability plans,” she said.