Student Built Climate Refuge at NYC Climate Week in Collaboration with MIT and UC Berkeley

Clay, Code, and Climate: Rosenberg x MIT Launch Real World Solution for Urban Cooling Refuge at Climate Week NYC

NEW YORK, Aug. 26, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- During Climate Week New York City, one of the world's most influential climate summits bringing together leaders from business, government, academia, and civil society, students from Institut auf dem Rosenberg will debut Climate Refuge — a full-scale architectural installation that reimagines climate resilience for cities of the future.

Climate Week NYC, now in its 17th year, is a global platform for driving climate action, drawing more than 500 events and tens of thousands of participants across the city. Taking place alongside the United Nations General Assembly, the week highlights urgent challenges and breakthrough solutions in the race to address climate change.

For Climate Refuge, all Rosenberg students, ages 6–18, were engaged in the design process through hands-on workshops in architecture, material science, design, and technology. The school's 230 students (K–12) contributed to various stages of the project, from clay fabrication to augmented reality mapping. Between 7 and 10 students will travel to New York City to present the installation and lead interactive workshops during Climate Week.

The project's walkable pavilion, built from 600 modular clay blocks, will be exhibited September 23–25, 2025 at Mabou Mines in New York's East Village, hosted by Swissnex. Drawing from ancient cooling strategies and merging them with modern fabrication tools, Climate Refuge demonstrates how low-carbon, adaptive systems can address urban heat, energy inequality, and climate adaptation. Its evaporative façade showcases passive cooling in action, while augmented reality layers overlay climate data and speculative futures for urban design.

Inside the courtyard space of Climate Refuge, visitors can explore an immersive climate-conscious environment and join student-led workshops on modular design, material science, and sustainable city planning.

"Students today are not spectators to the future — they are shaping it," said Anita Gademann, Board Member and Head of Innovation at Institut auf dem Rosenberg. "This exhibition demonstrates what's possible when education is anchored in real-world challenges and global collaboration."

The project not only showcases design innovation but also feeds into advocacy: ideas and insights from Climate Refuge will be included in a Youth Manifesto for Action, authored by students in dialogue with global experts. The manifesto will be presented at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2026.

Climate Refuge is part of an ongoing collaboration between Rosenberg, MIT Design and Computation, MIT Building Technology, and UC Berkeley Architecture, focusing on accessible, sustainable building systems. After New York, the installation will travel to MIT Boston, Davos, and other global venues before becoming a permanent feature in Rosenberg's climate garden in Switzerland.

For more information about Rosenberg's innovation programs, please visit www.instrosenberg.ch.

About Institut auf dem Rosenberg

Institut auf dem Rosenberg is a leading international boarding school in St. Gallen, Switzerland, serving students ages 6–18 from more than 50 nations. With a forward-thinking curriculum that blends traditional academic excellence with real-world application, Rosenberg prepares young people to thrive in a rapidly changing world.

The school is globally recognized for its Talent & Enrichment Programmes, which give students opportunities to work alongside scientists, designers, entrepreneurs, and institutions such as MIT, UC Berkeley, and the World Economic Forum. Through hands-on projects in fields ranging from sustainability and robotics to neuroscience, entrepreneurship, and the arts, students gain not only knowledge but also the skills, empathy, and creativity to lead future change.

Rosenberg's unique educational model emphasizes personalized learning, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and innovation-driven projects, empowering students to become active contributors to solving some of society's most pressing challenges.

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SOURCE Institut auf dem Rosenberg