After successful completion of the course, students are able to...

After completing the course, students will have developed a critical understanding of the intrinsic relationships between the built environment, the ecological impact of HVAC systems (heating, ventilation, air conditioning) and cultural narratives surrounding the aspect of thermal comfort.
By physically building a structure during the course of the semester, students will gain knowledge of group-based decision making and hands-on construction methods within an on-site building process.

“Comfort indicates that one has risen above the inconsistencies of the natural world and triumphed, not only over nature and the weather, but over chance itself. We can rely on comfort. It will be there when we get back.” - Daniel A. Barber

COMFORT & CARBON
As inhabitants of the so called developed world, we take the privilege of thermal comfort – or “feeling free of physical constraint” – as a given condition within the spaces we populate. Comfort is a modern and fairly recent idea. Ranging from your favorite one-click-away food delivery service to self-cleaning ovens.

Comfort is a commodity high in demand. HVAC infrastructures (heating, ventilation, air conditioning) are engrained into the very body of our buildings and with them the fuels that feed them, and the carbon emissions that result.

Thermal comfort and the devices that regulate interior conditioning are of specific interest for architecture as it organizes and aestheticizes the connection between comfort and carbon.

RENEGOTIATING STANDARDS
Architecture is in a peculiar situation to on one side be bound to legal frameworks, while at the same time expected to challenge them. Political bodies and industry-based interest groups (ASHRAE, REHVA, etc.) regulate (and therefore define) how architecture should perform.

There is an urgency to rethink and possibly replace the underlying assumptions and standardizing models governing the thermal envelope of buildings. The task of design in this context is to formulate alternative scenarios – allowing for a more diverse range of possibilities of how we relate to space, by rethinking comfort.

Rather than seeing this new sobriety as set back, new possibilities and ways of living are to be discovered. In diversifying our thermal relationships with the spaces we inhabit, we potentially are one step closer to a post-carbon future.

DESIGN FOR DISCOMFORT
Coming to terms with the established regime of thermal comfort – the systems and resources that sustain it we will explore the potential (and possible necessity) of a design for discomfort.

The nature of this semesters course is that of experimentation. Our main task will be to test this proposition by conducting a hands-on building workshop on site. The exercise lies in physically understanding our own energy consumption in regard to our bodies and the tasks necessary to construct space.

OBSERVING, DOCUMENTING, DISCUSSING
The initial phase is defined by visiting various sites of interest, as well as the sharing of the participants individual experiences related to space and thermal comfort.

To better understand the performative properties of building materials and our own physical experience, students will observe and document specific environmental situations. Our weekly meetings will work as stage to share, discuss and compare the individual findings within the group.

LECTURES
Throughout the semester we will receive external input from individuals practicing and researching in various related fields.

WORKSHOP
The central phase of the semester is a one week on-site workshop. The previously acquired knowledge will be tested through physical action, by building a structure that relates to the raised questions and makes them tangible.

EXHIBITION AND CLOSING EVENT
We will conclude the semester by sharing our findings in an exhibition alongside a celebratory event staged in and around the completed structure.

Students are to be aware that participating in this course involves exposure to cold temperatures, physical labor and might involve overnight stays in remote locations.

We will be conducting a 1 week-long open-air workshop outside of the city. The timeslot is 27-11.2023 - 8.12.2023 (the exact days are still to be determined.)

HOW TO APPLY
Students interested in this course are asked to apply with 1 A4 page including 1 image best showcasing their visual sensibility (photograph, sketch, etc.) as well as a short text why they wish to participate.

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