Architectural Design V-IX: Borderline Investigation #8 (Hyper)Comfort (A.Theriot)

Abstract

The search for a lifestyle centered on comfort, i.e. free from any form of constraint, fatigue or effort, has become an absolute ideal.Comfort no longer serves only to satisfy our real needs, but is the core of an economic, social and psychological logic in which our sense of well-being is based on the accumulation of practical objects and the systematic use of technology.

Objective

The weakening of our cognitive and sensory capacities, the loss of autonomy in favor of technological devices, the reinforcement of individualism, the impoverishment and instrumentalization of social relations, the distancing from nature and the destruction of ecosystems, reveal the price to be paid for the expansion of modern comfort. This semester we will examine the notion of comfort, as reflected in the procedures of conception and construction of buildings. Doesn't the influx of standards, equipment, sanitary controls, always in the name of the user, make comfort drift towards conformism? We can no longer pretend that well-being is generated without instruments. It is perhaps now the time we take a look at these instruments. WHY 19°C? The definition of 19°C as ideal minimum interior temperature is based on the equation of Fanger from the 70s. A complex, physiological, psychological and socio-culturally constructed sensation, the feeling of comfort is fragmented into quantifiable parameters. The norm defines well-being as the state of neutrality. The moment, where the thermoregulatory system remains passive, the equilibrium. After Fanger, the average „standardized subject“ will feel neutral at 19°. There is, up to today, no health-based evidence to avoid the stimulation of the thermo-regulatory system. WHO OR WHAT IS STANDARD? A standard person according to current knowledge corresponds to a normal-weight healthy man between the ages of 25 and 30 years. A counter case study shows that depending on the environmental conditions the calculation with a standard person has a high risk of error according to EN ISO 8996. WHY REMAIN NEUTRAL? What if we would include the sensation of slightly warm and slightly cold in the comfort zone? how much heating energy would we save if we would consider instead 18°C as the minimum indoor temperature ? and how much would the carbon footprint be reduced, if we would allow for higher seasonal fluctuations of temperature, thus use less layers of material/ isolate less? what if, instead of conditioning the buildings, we would control less and start to condition/change our behavior? The examination of the contemporary “instruments of comfort” implies revealing them as part of a consumption network we can no longer ignore. To question their capacities might lead to a new, more fragile, even impure, understanding of comfort – guarantee of a dynamic space. TOKYO AS A CASE STUDY: With a different eye on the notion of comfort, we will explore Japan and in particular Tokyo as a case study of this condition. Questioning our relationship with our environment, accepting it rather than trying to fight against.

Content

We aim to seize economic requirements to transform constraints into levers, producers of qualities. These may well be tangible or intangible, prosaic or poetic, constant or unstable, general or occasional... As long as they are initiated by the economy and located far from any rationality. Creating generosity, “excesses” that make the strength and uniqueness of a place. The semester will unfold in three chapters: CHAP 1: MYTHOLOGY CHAP 2: FINDING FREEDOMS CHAP 3: BINDING FRAGMENTS INTEGRATED WORKSHOPS: Fragmentin (artist) Olivier Campagne (3D visualisations) Lluis Enrique (structure) Gontran Dufour (facade and envelope) + further external experts from the fields of cognitive sciences, economics and politics to be confirmed EVALUATION CRITERIAS: RESEARCH 3 NARRATIVE 3 TERRITORIAL STRATEGY 2 USES/PROGRAMM 1 REPRESENTATION 2 TECHNICAL SOLUTION 2 TYPOLOGY 2 INTEGRATED SEMINAR WEEK Integrated seminar week to Tokyo will take place from 20.10 to 31.10.2022 (TBC) Cost category C: 750CHF (incl. transport and accommodation) It is highly recommended to students enrolling to our studio to also enrol and take part in the integrated seminar week, as we will visit together the different project sites, and much more exiting experiences. Students enrolled are responsible of having their valid passport and vaccination certificate on the first week of the semester, in order to complete visa applications.

Resources