UNCOMFORTABLE TRAJECTORIES:
THERMAL COMFORT IN THE EVERYDAY
AIDAN E GALLOWAY
ARCH 322: LEXICON OF EVERYDAY FUTURES
PROFESSOR BETSY CLIFTON BARD ARCHITECTURE SPRING 2022
Theactuallyquitesubjectivebutheavilystandardizedprovisionof“thermalcomfort”isonly perceivedwhenthemachinesbuzzinginthebackgroundmalfunction;weseetheradiator whenithisses,bangs,pops,theairconditionerwhenithasmadeustoocoldorabirdtries tobuildanestonit.“Thermalcomfort,”definedbyASHRAE55as“thatconditionofmind thatexpressessatisfactionwiththethermalenvironment,”intimesofpandemicanda persistingabstractfearoftheloomingclimatecrisisthat’salwaysoverthere,thatperson’s problem,notmine,notrightnow-“thermalcomfort”inthepresentdayissomethingwith personalandplanetaryimplicationsanddeservesmoreattentioninarchitecturaldiscourse.1
DrawingfromtheresearchofReynerBanham,LisaHeschong,and,especially,DanielA. Barber,thisexhibitionattemptstolinkthediscourseofthermalcomfortinarchitecture tofamiliarobjectsmodeledoutoflaser-cutpaper,3dprintedplastic,cardboardand foamcore.Throughthereproductionandre-assemblageofeverydayobjectsandspaces, presentedalongsiderelevantpiecesofresearchinterspersedthroughoutanarrativeset100 yearsfromnowthatplaysoutourcurrenttrajectory,perhapstheuncomfortablepresent conditionofconditioningtowardscomfortwillbegintofindlegibility.
1 Before we can imagine future iterations of these objects and spaces, we have to understand the current trajectory. Here, that trajectory is understood as being one that tends to be decreasinglyarchitecturalandincreasinglyengineered-solvedbymassproduced,aestheticallyterrifyingcombustiblepumpsandspinningbladesconcealedbyominousgrates.1 Increasingly outofsight,theheatofafireplacecanbeperceivedimmediately;asteamradiator,lessdirectlybutstillwithintheunderstandingofanon-technician;aheatpump:inconceivable.
Thattrajectorytowardsubiquitousthermalcomfort,towardsabsolutecontrol(even,perhaps,overtheamountofcontrolexperienceditself)isamovementtowardsunawareness,sensory seda-tion,permanence.Itisamovementtowardssomeuniversalizingstandardthatrequirestheuseofhightech,highcomplexitymechanicalsystemsthatdependonelectricitytonotonly powerthemovementofheat,but,asinthecaseofhypersealedpassivehouses,themovementofairitself.
Ernst and Peter Neufert, Architects’ Data, trans. David Sturge, Fourth (Wiley-Blackwell, 2012), 37.
(1)Quoted in Winnie Tu, “The Burning Building” (Syracuse University, 2015).
(2)Patrick Sisson, “The Curious History of Steam Heat and Pandemics,” Bloomberg CityLab, 2020.
(3)Daniel A. Barber, Modern Architecture and Climate: Design before Air Conditioning (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2020), 246.
“Outside” Annual average temperature graph derived from the European Environment Agency’s “Global Average near Surface Temperature since the Pre-Industrial Period,” accessed May 19, 2022, https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/figures/global-average-near-surface-temperature.1
1 Visitors encounter a massive graphic which plots various historical moments in the development of technologies and regulations relevant to thermal comfort alongside a finctionalized depiction of the widening gap between indoor and outdoor temperature variability.
The developed nations’ striving towards thermal consistency in its interior conditioned spaces - towards the Olgyay brothers’ mission of “Flattening the temperature curve”correlates to rising average global temperatures outside.
The Olgyay brothers, Victor and Aladar, were Victor and Aladar Olgyay, Flattening the Temperature Curve, from “A Temperate House,” in Architectural Forum, March 1961, cited in (3) Daniel A. Barber, Modern Architecture and Climate: Design before Air Conditioning (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2020), 221.
INCREASINGCONTROL,COMFORT,AUTOMATION
DECRREASINGAWARENESS,EQUALITY,NETFRERSHAIRSUPPLY
“Ah, fresh air.”
While fire was once something around which to gather — in the form of the hearth — the generators of heat and cool in our everyday environments are now complicit actors in what Interboro has termed “hostile architecture.”
Whatusedtobeone apartmenthasbeensplit intotwo.Atleastyoucan tellyourlandlordyoudon't havecontroloverthe radiatorvalve;you'renot toblameforthePOPS.
SLEEPINGONTHEHEATINGVENTSISPROHIBITED
“EventhoughPOPSwereoriginallyinventedforuseinManhattan’shigh-density commercialandresidentialblocksinordertoimproveenvironmentalhealthandprovide accesstogreenery,daylight,andfreshair,thepowerfulworkingsofrealestateeconomics anditsmechanismshaveoftendeniedthepublicrightofaccessanduse.”
ENDS: “COMFORT”; PREDICTABILITY; CONTROL; POWER; PERMANENCE; INDEPENDENCE FROM “NATURE.”
MEANS: EFFICIENCY, AUTOMATION, ENGINEERING, LEGISLATION, EXPLOITATION, MARGINALIZATION, ARCHITECTURE.
ALTERNATIVE ENDS:
“THERMAL DELIGHT”
EMBRACING DISCOMFORT
SPACES OF GATHERING AROUND PRECIOUS SOURCES OF WARMTH OR COOL SURVIVAL