Deracination and the environment

DERACINATION & THE ENVIRONMENT

Paul Scheerbars book, Glass Architecture recognizes and highlights that glass architecture is only appropriate in specific climates, namely temperate zones. Due to the lack of insulation and reliance on mechanical systems, glass architecture is not suitable for climates with extreme heat or cold.1 Even with the advancements in heating and cooling systems, without appropriate shading devices, the interior spaces of glass buildings are prone to discomfort. With this known, building a curtain wall building without acknowledging the climactic requirement shows a lack of environmental responsibility. Le Corbusier, a proponent for glass facades and ribbon windows, wrote to the chair of UN headquarters during the design process of the Secretariat (1950) exclaiming that “my strong belief is that it is senseless to building in New York, where the climate is terrible in summer, large areas of glass which are not equipped with a ‘brisesoleil’ is dangerous, very seriously dangerous”.2

Berger House falls in this category of Curtain Walls built under the guise of modernism without any appropriate regard to daylighting, climate or heat gain. A building with no regard to its context is alien to the urban fabric which it exists, in order to preserve the story of the Curtain Wall, it must be done in a manner which rectifies this error. In terms of sustainability, it is much greener to undertake this preservation and retrofit than start from scratch.3

“There are long lists of inefficient all-glass curtain walls, initially promoted by the modernist movement, that are due to retrofit. The all-glass curtain wall buildings rely on artificial ventilation, cooling and heating, and suffer from poor insulation... As such, renovating older buildings could be greener than destroying them and rebuilding new ones.”4