THIS MONTH IN ENGINEERING | August 1995 | Designing for Heat You Can’t See
- Rebeka Zubac
- Aug 4
- 2 min read
In the first week of August 1995, Chicago recorded more than 700 deaths during a prolonged heatwave. Most victims were elderly, isolated, and living in buildings that trapped heat with no way to release it. Cooling was limited. Mechanical systems failed. For many, help came too late.
It remains one of the deadliest climate events in a developed country. And it changed how engineers think about thermal design.
The problem wasn’t just the temperature. It was the assumption that buildings didn’t need to be prepared for sustained extremes. Passive ventilation was overlooked. Cooling was considered optional. Systems were sized for averages, not for emergencies.
That was 1995.
Today, expectations have shifted, especially in Australia. Our climate demands it. Peak temperatures spike higher, for longer. Load profiles shift. Systems that worked five years ago now run close to failure.
So we design differently. We model days when no one opens a window. We simulate failures. We overdesign in the places that matter most. And we ask how long a building can keep people safe when systems break.
Because heat doesn’t announce itself. It builds silently, room by room, floor by floor, until it’s too late to cool it back down.
At Goldfish & Bay, we approach mechanical systems as part of a building’s resilience strategy. Whether it’s chilled water, pressure zoning, plantroom airflow or passive escape paths, we design for the moment things don’t work not just when they do.
The future may not be cooler.
But our buildings can be smarter.
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Sources:
Eric Klinenberg, Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago (University of Chicago Press, 2002) | NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information | The Atlantic – “The Deadliest Heat Wave in US History” | Chicago Tribune archives | Australian Building Codes Board (NCC 2022, Vol. 1, Sections J and F4)
