Body, Atmosphere, and Climatic Typology: toward an Architecture for Everyday Life

Abstract

During the last two decades, in the context of a growing awareness of the environment and climate change, architecture has explored the design opportunities opened up by the fields of thermodynamics and ecology. However, this new sensibility has been approached primarily from a technical point of view and has focused on quantifying the thermodynamic performance of buildings, overlooking the equally important cultural aspects of this endeavor. Beyond the quantitative and performance-oriented approaches that have prevailed in recent years1, any committed attempt to connect climate, atmosphere, and architecture must also focus on finding the connections between a climate-based understanding of architecture and the everyday life of its users. Contrary to the parametric approaches that have dominated thermodynamic architecture during the last decade, it is also necessary to find architectural tools for connecting climate and ordinary life.