After Comfort: Architects as Agents of Decarbonisation
Monday
15th March 2024 | 13:00 – 14:30 CET
Aula 201 Lingotto | Streaming on YouTube
INTRODUCTION
As the impacts of the climate crisis are increasingly felt, the role for architecture, and architects, is changing. No longer concerned with formal elaborations, architects and urbanists are now focused on sufficiency measures and other means of managing the demand for energy in buildings.
After Comfort: Architects as Agents of Decarbonisation will explore this social role in two parts: first, with a historical account of architectures that have been concerned with air conditioning and the thermal interior as a space for social transformation; and second, with reflections on contemporary practices aiming to reimagine spaces of habitation and life in common, after carbon.
Across both of these discussions is a concern for thermal comfort, its role in carbon emissions, and aspects of conditioning, social practices, and social change that underlie it. Recent experiments push building users to reassess their comfort expectations, and will be discussed according to the challenges and potential they suggest.
The presentation will conclude with considerations of how design interventions can emphasize a shift in comfort expectations, especially in overindustrialized economies, as a pathway towards reparations for loss and damage in the built environment and more generally.
BIO
Daniel A. Barber is Professor and Head of School Architecture at the University of Technology Sydney. His research and teaching explore the history and future of architecture’s engagement with the environment. His most recent book is Modern Architecture and Climate: Design before Air Conditioning (Princeton, 2020), following A House in the Sun: Modern Architecture and Solar Energy in the Cold War (Oxford, 2016); his article “After Comfort” (Log 47, 2019) has been translated into four languages. Daniel earned a PhD from Columbia University, and has held fellowships at Harvard University, Princeton University, and through the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. His research on architecture and sufficiency is supported by a fellowship at the Centre for Apocalyptic and Post-Apocalyptic Studies at the Universität Heidelberg, the British Academy, and the Guggenheim Foundation. Daniel co-edits the series “After Comfort: A User’s Guide” on e-flux architecture, commissioning texts, projects and experiments focused on how we will live indoors without fossil fuels.
Contacts
The lecture was full of food for thoughts in its entire length of delivery. Professor Daniel, arose sensitive questions about the relationship between Carbon emissions and Architecture. The directions of explorations were not just limited to built mass, but innumerable tangible and intangible tributaries associated to it. Architecture, seem to play a vital role in future that we all share. One way to incorporate and realize this better could be, as suggested by Prof. to have Architects are the driving beings of the reports by IPCC, as buildings and construction sector holds power to manipulate maximum number of SDG’s. It was amusing to witness the dilemma of how all the efforts to reduce carbon emmisions of buildings by them efficient is overwhelmed and outnumbered by the no. of new constructions that simultaneously come up. One thing is certain that there will be discomfort, but it is for us to decide we want it from our surroundings by not doing anything and bearing its consequences or by being rational in our approaches to comfort as a preventive measure. So its bound to happen, either BY DESIGN or BY DEFAULT! and that is one again a notion that highlights the vast limits of architecture!
In his lecture, “Architects as agents of decarbonization”, professor Daniel A. Barber reflected on architecture’s future in terms of mitigation of climate change. In the past decades architecture has contributed a lot in terms of environmental impact and now it needs to deal with limitations in terms of policy measures and daily pratices.
Architecture often has become fossil fuel reliant in order to reach termo comfort although it is not a necessary solution. Modernist architects showed us how it is possible to apply architectural solutions in order to satisfy user’s needs of thermal comfort, but often these are replaced by mechanical solutions.
Architects’ social duty would be resonating about reducing the carbon use in order to use it where is absolutely needed (buildings such as hospitals) with long term actions driven by non-technological solutions. So nowadays we can reduce comfort and resonate on how we can change what we do.
Prof. Barber is an architectural historian who specializes in ways to address the climate emergency. Modern society has become reliant on A/C systems. This dependency could be resisted. An architect while planning should take consideration of thermal practices within his design. A/C not only damage the environment but also gets the outer street hotter and harms poorer population. He introduced the mitigation and the adaptation strategies and suggests sufficiency instead of efficiency as efficiency doesn’t really reduce the aggregated damage. Examples of buildings that are highly inefficient as the Seagram building and tools such as a “sun screen” to combat low efficiency in existing buildings were given. “Culture generate desires and the climate crisis is also a crisis of culture”. Older approach was to build high energy consumption building as it improves effectiveness. The Decommodify approach and finding ways to reduce our comfort expectations are possible strategies to tackle it.
Daniel A. Barber’s lecture on “After Comfort: Architects as Agents of Decarbonisation” promises a thought-provoking exploration of the social role of architects in addressing the urgent challenge of decarbonisation.
He emphazised the role of architects in addressing pressing environmental challenges such as climate change, resource depletion, and ecological degradation by analyzing historical precedents and contemporary practices, Barber offers insights into how architects can adopt more sustainable design strategies and promote ecological resilience in the built environment. Design approaches and strategies aiming at reducing energy consumption, minimizing carbon emissions, and fostering more sustainable modes of living were discussed. He highlighted projects and initiatives that prioritize passive design principles, renewable energy integration, and community-centric approaches to urban planning and architecture. These practices aim to reimagine spaces of habitation and life in common, envisioning a future where comfort and sustainability are not mutually exclusive.
Overall, the session explained how to critically engage with the social, cultural, and environmental implications of architectural design, and to envision alternative futures that prioritize equity, resilience, and environmental stewardship.
This lecture which was held by professor Daniel A. Barber reflected an interesting topic that has direct effect on all people’s lives which is the carbon emission phenomenon and how we architects have to mitigate with it in our designs. The solutions regarding this are not necessarily by taking into consideration the efficiency aspect only, instead it’s recommended to depend on sufficiency to avoid higher demand for energy. Also having to create a higher number of buildings although it might be built with efficiency doesn’t change the bad effects.
The lecturer also pointed out that the modern designs can actually meet the needs of users of thermal comfort by applying architectural solutions in addition to mechanical ones.
Finally, our responsibility regarding the mitigation of carbon emission will be to design buildings that consume less carbon, so that buildings in a greater need for it will benefit more.
Daniel Barber provides a fascinating lecture addressing the relationship between architecture and the current environmental scenario. The Professor starts his lecture by affirming that architects should act as agents of decarbonization. His speech is based on understanding how can be the future of architecture considering its effects on the rising of carbon emissions. Barber argues that as a first step, we should reconsider the relation between building comfort and sustainability asking for a shift of culture. In his speech, the architect recalls the now customary society’s dependency on air conditioning and oil-based energy. As appointed by him, it became a challenge for people to accept any slight thermal discomfort. Furthermore, Barber debates on how even building “greener” we are still building more, which consequently still leads to a rise in carbon emissions, he suggests instead we build sufficient, focusing on adaptation and mitigation measures both on embodied and operational carbon emissions.
Professor Daniel A. Barber during his lecture presented a stimulating exploration of the social role that architects have in facing the urgent challenge of decarbonisation. He underline our role in addressing pressing environmental challenges such as climate change, resource depletion and ecological degradation, analyzing historical precedents and contemporary practices. Starting from the simple observation of the function of air conditioning, which we all aspire to for our comfort, Barber offers insights into how architects can adopt more sustainable design strategies and promote ecological resilience in the built environment. He highlighted projects and initiatives that prioritize the principles of passive design, integration of renewable energy and community-focused approaches in urban planning and architecture. These practices aim to reinvent living and living spaces in communion, imagining a future in which comfort and sustainability are not mutually exclusive. The importance of the social responsibility of architects in the process of decarbonisation is fundamental to shape a more eco-sustainable and resilient built environment.
Professor Daniel Barber, during his lecture, wanted to create a safe space to reflect on the role that architecture might have in decarbonization, as more and more architect are trying to find new solution and ways to tone down the problem.
He didn’t want to suggest that we can save the decarbonization situation in the world, but we can help to menage it.
The built environment that we are used to is completely dependent on machines to keep it the right temperature, most of the population is now dependent on the cooling and heating system that are fossil fuel hungry.
This provide a thermal comfort that makes us comfortable in an interior space, for example many people might want a cooling system in their house because they see it as the only way to provide comfort, not considering that is based on someone else work.
As general population we have expectations, we are comfortable everywhere with air conditioning, one of the most challenging things we can do is to find a way to be uncomfortable, and we can learn the difference between “survival emission” or “luxury emission”; for example, air conditioning is more useful and needed in a hospital rather than in a shop.
It was fascinating to see how the approach towards energy demand and carbon emissions changed over a century. On the one hand, we have the architects of the early twentieth century who incorporated climate-mediating strategies into their designs, on the other hand, we have after World War II context in which due to the technological advancements and a boom in energy supply, architects tend to build fully sealed buildings with more dependency on high-tech and less on bio-climatic approaches. We witnessed the emergence of fossil fuel-powered air-conditioning systems that soon became widely available. Now we have to decide if we continue with this pace of carbon emissions and shortly witness the temperature of Rome in Berlin, or practice more tolerance and pose more restrictions in terms of interior thermal comfort and instead have a more promising future for the next generations of human and non.
This lecture offers a comprehensive discussion on the evolving role of architecture in response to contemporary challenges, including technological advancements, political dynamics, and the climate crisis. The speaker emphasizes the critical importance of experience design in shaping architectural solutions that meet the needs and desires of society.
An intriguing example provided is the architectural evolution of a building over time, highlighting how architecture adapts to changing contexts and technologies. This serves as a tangible illustration of the dynamic nature of architectural practice.
The lecture also delves into the ethical considerations of architectural decisions, urging architects to prioritize equity and social justice in their designs, particularly in addressing the needs of marginalized communities.
Overall, the lecture encourages architects to embrace innovation and collaboration across disciplines to create spaces that are not only aesthetically pleasing but also socially responsible and environmentally sustainable. It prompts reflection on the role of architecture in shaping our future and calls for a holistic approach to design.
The impact of climate change on cities now forces us to think about what the housing scenarios of the future will be like. Architecture plays a fundamental role in reinventing new ways of experiencing the city and in fuelling the birth of new social practices. Today, however, we had to deal with a world that is still closely linked to the use of fossil fuels and extremely wasteful in energy terms. The achievement of high thermal standards required by a portion of the world’s population (for example to have conditioning of building) slows down the process of reducing emissions and is no longer a sustainable practice. Architects are therefore called upon to become real agents of decarbonisation, not only by designing zero-emission building but also by leading a design that calls into question the concept of thermal comfort. Architecture must therefore go beyond the limit of socially accepted thermal comfort and work to reduce it. It is therefore necessary for architects to reimagine the city and building in the light of this renewed idea of comfort.
Daniel Barber focuses on the theme of environment, climate change, and comfort within buildings. Combining all these aspects and the relationships between them and carbon emissions.
It was a very technical lecture, going into technological aspects related to architecture, starting from the past and questioning the future. So, he starts by giving examples of existing architecture from the 20th century and then goes on to question how the architecture of the future must be, to meet climate change and the problems that come with it. How we can reduce carbon emissions is the bigger question the architects have to solve, without losing the ability to create good architecture and so, respecting, the needs of an architecture has to solve.
He emphasized endeavors and ventures that give precedence to passive design principles and the integration of renewable energy sources. I think we can “save” the environment but only with good cooperation between different types of people and before we have to make people able to understand the importance of this topic and if necessary, to pay more to obtain better environmental architecture.
Professor Daniel Barber’s lesson addressed the topic of the relationship between architecture and the climate emergency. In fact the professor recognizes how closely the construction world is dependent on the use of fossil fuels. It’s hard to imagine a world where buildings don’t rely on carbon. In particular, it also focuses on the topic of thermal comfort and the use of air conditioning and how they are now too integrated into the way we design. It is also interesting to underline how thermal comfort brings benefits to those who can afford it, but damages external spaces and therefore those who cannot.
With the example of Foster’s and HSBC Tower in Hong Kong, the professor also shows us how much green architecture is committed to building in a more sustainable way in contemporary times, but that at the same time much more is being built and therefore this is actually not working to reduce Co2 emissions used to build architecture.
The goal for the future is that we architects should now articulate a kind of condition that resists and frees us from this dependence and insistence on the use of air conditioning.
During his lecture titled “After Comfort: Architects as Agents of Decarbonization,” Daniel A. Barber guided us through an exploration of the social responsibilities embedded within the architectural profession, particularly concerning the imperative challenge of decarbonization. Throughout the session, Barber highlighted the pivotal role architects assume in addressing urgent environmental issues, including climate change, resource depletion, and ecological degradation. By examining both historical precedents and contemporary practices, he shows us how many strategies can be used in the current context in terms of sustainable interventions.
The discussion also consisted of various design approaches and strategies aimed at curbing many issues that we face today like energy consumption and reducing carbon emissions. Many projects and initiatives that prioritize passive design principles, integrate renewable energy sources, and so on for a sustainable and efficient design were among those that were discussed. These forward-thinking practices envision a future where comfort and sustainability can coexist. His lecture in a way guides us to critically engage with the social, cultural, and environmental ramifications of our design choices.