January 2024 MBR The Architecture Shelf

The Architecture Shelf

Climatic Architecture
Philippe Rahm
Actar D
c/o Actar Publishers
https://actar.com
9781638400394, $64.95, HC, 360pp

https://www.amazon.com/Climatic-Architecture-Philippe-Rahm-architectes/dp/1638400393

Synopsis: Architecture and urbanism were traditionally based on climate and health, as we can read in treatises of Vitruvius, Palladio or Alberti, where exposure to wind and sun, variations in temperature and humidity influenced the forms of cities and buildings. These fundamental causes of urban planning and buildings were ignored in the second half of the 20th century thanks to the enormous use of fossil energy by heating and air conditioning systems, pumps and refrigerators, that today cause the greenhouse effect and global warming.

The fight against climate change forces the architects and urban designer to take back seriously the climatic issue in order to base their design on more consideration to the local climatic context and energy resources. Faced with the climatic challenge of the 21st century, we propose to reset our discipline on its intrinsic atmospheric qualities, where air, light, heat or humidity are recognized are real materials of building, convection, thermal conduction, evaporation, emissivity, or effusivity are becoming design tools for composing architecture and cities, and through materialism dialectic, are able to revolutionize esthetic and social values.

Critique: "Climatic Architecture" is about climate and its impact on architecture. Informatively written by the Swiss architect Philippe Rahm, "Climatic Architecture" is a informative monograph on the architectural, urbanistic and landscape work of the office "Philippe Rahm architectes", as well as a manifesto for a climatic architecture to face global warming, and a theoretical and practical treatise on the art of building atmospheres. This large format (8.1 x 1.3 x 12.5 inches, 3.05 pounds) hardcover edition of "Climatic Architecture" is highly recommended fore personal, professional, community, and college/university library Contemporary Architectural Studies collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists.

Editorial Note: Philippe Rahm (http://www.philipperahm.com) is a Swiss architect, principal in the office of "Philippe Rahm architectes", based in Paris, France. His work, which extends the field of architecture from the physiological to the meteorological, has received an international audience in the context of sustainability. His recent work includes the first prize for the Farini competition (60 ha) in Milan in 2019, the 70 hectares Central Park in Taichung, Taiwan, completed in December 2020. He has held professorships at GSD Harvard University, Columbia, Cornell or Princeton Universities. He is a tenured associate professor at the National Superior School of Architecture in Versailles, France (ENSA-V). In 2020, he is the curator and author of the exhibition and book "Natural History of Architecture" at the Pavillon de l'Arsenal in Paris.

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