Doctoral Project
Air-Conditioning, Architecture, and Modernism. On the Emergence of the Controlled Environment 1906-1945
Doctoral Project
Wulf Böer
Prof. Dr. Laurent Stalder
Since 2014
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This dissertation examines the modernization of the built environment through the impact of air-conditioning technology that emerged in North America in the first half of the twentieth century. It argues that the air-conditioned, controlled environment modernized architecture, literally, from within: It directly embodied modern concepts such as health, hygiene and efficiency; it turned air-within-buildings into an industrial produced commodity; it dissociated buildings from their geographical context while simultaneously connecting them to a larger network of machines, and it ultimately epitomized an utmost modern idea: the mastery of mankind over its physical environment, made possible through the technical expertise of engineers. This dissertation traces the development process that started with the invention of an apparatus of atmospheric control until the moment in history, c. 40 years later, where the controlled environment is established as a standardized building practice in North America. Interweaving multiple narratives, this dissertation examines the period in question from various perspectives: Engineers and scientists discover the manipulation and control of air and its utopian potential; they leave their laboratories to launch a discourse outlining their utopian vision of the (air-conditioned) building of the future. Associations and companies transform air on multiple levels to turn it from a natural resource into a quantifiable material that can be used to shape new spaces. Architects collaborate with engineers to make the controlled environment a technological reality within a highly rationalized and standardized building economy, thereby redefining concepts of architectural design. New forms of interior activity emerge, that allow for modern concepts of inhabiting buildings while, at the same time, they are confined to the logic of the air-conditioning machinery. But those buildings are now deeply embedded within flows of energy, and they become part of larger infrastructural systems.
Wulf Böer
Wulf Böer
Prof. Dr. Laurent Stalder
Since 2014
[pic-nolightbox-20171208-175804-z371.jpg]
This dissertation examines the modernization of the built environment through the impact of air-conditioning technology that emerged in North America in the first half of the twentieth century. It argues that the air-conditioned, controlled environment modernized architecture, literally, from within: It directly embodied modern concepts such as health, hygiene and efficiency; it turned air-within-buildings into an industrial produced commodity; it dissociated buildings from their geographical context while simultaneously connecting them to a larger network of machines, and it ultimately epitomized an utmost modern idea: the mastery of mankind over its physical environment, made possible through the technical expertise of engineers. This dissertation traces the development process that started with the invention of an apparatus of atmospheric control until the moment in history, c. 40 years later, where the controlled environment is established as a standardized building practice in North America. Interweaving multiple narratives, this dissertation examines the period in question from various perspectives: Engineers and scientists discover the manipulation and control of air and its utopian potential; they leave their laboratories to launch a discourse outlining their utopian vision of the (air-conditioned) building of the future. Associations and companies transform air on multiple levels to turn it from a natural resource into a quantifiable material that can be used to shape new spaces. Architects collaborate with engineers to make the controlled environment a technological reality within a highly rationalized and standardized building economy, thereby redefining concepts of architectural design. New forms of interior activity emerge, that allow for modern concepts of inhabiting buildings while, at the same time, they are confined to the logic of the air-conditioning machinery. But those buildings are now deeply embedded within flows of energy, and they become part of larger infrastructural systems.
Contact
Wulf Böer
