By noon, the classroom had turned unbearable. Hot air pushed through the open windows as students shifted restlessly on wooden benches, notebooks doubling up as hand fans against the Delhi summer. Then, slowly, something changed. A cooler breeze began slipping into the room. The relief came not from an expensive air conditioner or industrial cooler, but from a structure made using scrap metal, running water and dozens of humble terracotta cups.
A few years ago, while sitting in an air-conditioned Geography class at Gurugram’s The Shri Ram School and learning about heatwaves in India, Amaira Kapoor and five of her classmates found themselves thinking about students who had no such relief. “Project Vayu started with a small thought while we were learning about heatwaves in our Geography class. We study in air-conditioned classrooms, but there are millions of students who study without even a fan during scorching heatwaves. We wanted to solve this problem with a simple solution,” says Amaira.
That thought stayed with them long after class ended. What followed was months of trial and error, discussions after school, weekend experiments and a long summer spent figuring out how to cool classrooms without relying on expensive infrastructure. Eventually, the group arrived at an idea both practical and familiar: kulhads. “It’s a simple solution. We used kulhads because they can retain moisture for a longer duration,” says Amaira.
The science behind it is straightforward. Clay stays cool when wet. The team designed a sturdy metal frame fitted with rows of kulhads through which water continuously flows. Installed near windows, the structure cools the hot air entering classrooms before it circulates inside. The result, according to the students, is a temperature drop of nearly 4-6°C. In Delhi summers, where heatwave temperatures regularly touch 45°C and beyond, even a few degrees can transform a classroom.
The group behind the project—Amaira, Kartikeya Shastri, Zoey Singh, Shayan Sethi, Jovika Nagpal and Nevan Roy—calls it Project Vayu. Since 2024, they have installed these coolers in five government schools across Delhi-NCR, focusing on classrooms where even fans are often considered a luxury. The first prototype alone took over six months to build. Balancing the project alongside schoolwork wasn’t easy either. “The project started when we were in Class X. Later, we chose different streams, so we used to work on it during breaks and on weekends,” says Amaira.
Their efforts soon caught wider attention. Earlier this year, the team received support from the United Nations Foundation to expand the initiative. “We received a small funding of USD 700 from the United Nations Foundation,” adds Zoey from Project Vayu. “We will be using this funding during the summer season to install the coolers in 6-8 classrooms across Delhi NCR.” While terracotta-based cooling systems have existed in different forms before, the students hope their low-cost version can reach schools that simply cannot afford conventional cooling systems. “Project Vayu is not a commercial venture. We simply want to help schools that cannot afford cooling solutions,” says Zoey.
Now, as the students prepare to graduate from Class XII and head in different directions, they are already thinking about what happens next. “We have a long-term vision for this project. We are looking to crowdfund for expansion,” the team says, adding that they also plan to pass responsibilities to their juniors once they finish school. The project may never become a large-scale business or a flashy startup success story. But in classrooms where hot winds pour through open windows every afternoon, a few damp kulhads and the determination of six students are already making summer a little more bearable.
