Liz Gálvez: Collective Comfort

Collective Comfort: Airing on Possibilities unveils new approaches to climate resilient design in extreme desert climates. On view at the Center for Architecture + Design, San Francisco, November 21, 2024–February 6, 2025.

San Francisco, California—The (Im)material Matters Lab at the University of California, Berkeley, led by Assistant Professor Liz Gálvez, presents Collective Comfort: Airing on Possibilities, an innovative exhibition examining climate resilience in desert cities. Opening November 21 at the Center for Architecture + Design in San Francisco, the exhibition highlights design-research, full-scale prototypes, and student work that address the urgent need for alternative cooling solutions in regions facing extreme heat.

As global temperatures rise, Collective Comfort responds to climate challenges with sustainable design concepts that engage both community and environment. The featured works reimagine cooling centers as dynamic community spaces that move beyond air conditioning to foster collective well-being through enriched architectural programming and opportunistic material thinking. Highlighted research explores cooling strategies, material innovation, and community-centered designs developed by students at UC Berkeley’s Department of Architecture alongside collaborations with the University of Houston’s Urban Climate Adaptation Lab directed by Dalia Munenzon and expert input on building physics, wood construction, and social infrastructure by Salmaan Craig (Associate Professor, UCLA), Paul Mayencourt (Assistant Professor, UC Berkeley), and Melissa Guardaro (Assistant Research Professor, Knowledge Exchange for Resilience, Arizona State University), respectively.

Exhibition opening reception: November 21, 6–8pm, free admission. Center for Architecture + Design, Hallidie Building, 140 Sutter Street, San Francisco, California 94104 / info@centersf.org.

Key installations 
Prepared Mass: Stone, Clay & Thread—Utilizing traditional thermal mass and buoyancy ventilation techniques within contemporary framing construction, three full-scale prototypes demonstrate how ancient materials like clay, earth, and stone can be adapted to counter the urban heat island effect through passive cooling methods.

Comfort, Collectively—Envisions a future where cooling centers are reimagined through collective comfort as spaces that prioritize shared thermal pleasures and the joy of gathering as tools for community resilience. Here, comfort transcends austere metrics, embracing the richness of thermal relationships—where thermally diverse materials create dynamic interiors that respond to and engage the body.

A Building Code for Heat Resilience—This framework proposes new design guidelines for resilient hub buildings, integrating culturally sensitive programming with thermally massive materials and building physics principles tailored to desert climates.

An Urban Code for Heat Resilience—Expanding from the building scale to the urban environment, this collection proposes new design guidelines for shade equity and social infrastructure, integrating community-driven cooling solutions and policies that ensure accessible shaded spaces and heat relief resources for vulnerable communities.

Collective Comfort Architecture Studio—Berkeley Architecture graduate students were asked to create a series of "Comfort Artifacts" to develop new "Comfort Concepts" eventually developing their thermal ideas through the design of a building intended to embody and support Collective Comfort.

As part of UC Berkeley’s commitment to climate change research, this exhibition showcases an ongoing dialogue between architecture, material research, and resilience planning, recognizing how strategic allegiances can promote equitable solutions to climate challenges. Supported by the SOM Foundation Research Prize and AIA Upjohn Research Initiative, Collective Comfort offers architects, city planners, and community members fresh perspectives on urban cooling.

Gálvez emphasizes, “There is a profound intelligence in traditional material thinking that we can reintegrate into our contemporary building and urban cultures. By reducing our reliance on fossil fuels and reimagining resilient cooling strategies, we can expand the role of architecture in fostering collective resilience, especially for vulnerable communities confronting extreme weather risks. Enriching spaces that bring people together can serve as soft infrastructures, proving to be just as powerful as traditional hard infrastructures."

About the (Im)material Matters Lab
Founded at UC Berkeley, the (Im)material Matters Lab examines the interface between architecture, theory, and environmentalism through a re-examination of building technologies for a rapidly changing world. Directed by Gálvez, the team includes Deniz Atayolu, Catherine Chiu, Xinhui Harper Dong, Kyra Johnston, David Lin, Chloe Wang, Sarah Zhang and Wenteng Zhao. Learn more about the lab on our website: immaterialmatters.org.

About the Center for Architecture + Design
The Center is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to creating a public-focused dialogue on architecture, design, and the built environment in the San Francisco Bay Area. Established in 2005, the center enhances public appreciation for architecture and design through exhibitions, lectures, tours, film series, and other programs.