Towards the End of Air Conditioning

Actar, Andrew Cruse, Energy and sustainability, Essay, Imminent Urban Commons, No Density, Urban Paradigms

Air, Architecture&climate, Architecture&design, Climate, Climate change, Cooling climate device, Design, Designer’s role, Energy, Energy consumption, Essay, Fire, Global Awareness, Imminent Commons, Insulation, Rethinking Urban Environments, Seoul Biennale 2017, Shadows of technology, Temperature, Thermal comfort, Urban Paradigms, Ventilation

Comfort is the energetic and symbolic nexus between citizens and cities. It simultaneously describes the thermal relationship between a body and its environment, and the social one between the individual and larger groups. Architects are professionally predisposed see buildings as the primary context for comfort. Yet, shifting focus from the building to the body highlights how clothing responds to and shapes contemporary notions of comfort in ways that buildings cannot. The dominant concept of thermal comfort that developed during the twentieth century relies almost exclusively on conditioned air within sealed building envelopes.