Managing adverse climatic conditions was a significant part of the project of architectural modernism before the proliferation of air conditioning. Daniel Barber traces the conceptualization of the normative thermal interior space—and highlights the rich history of alternative models.
Daniel A. Barber is an Associate Professor of Architecture and Chair of the PhD Program in Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania. His books—Modern Architecture and Climate: Design before Air Conditioning and A House in the Sun: Modern Architecture and Solar Energy in the Cold War—examine historical relationships between architecture and global environmental culture, reframing the means and ends of architectural expertise to frame a more robust engagement with the climate crisis of the present. Barber edits the Accumulation series on the e-flux Architecture online platform, an annual dossier of essays that explore how media analyses provide access to processes of accumulation, material and symbolic, that are endemic to climate instabilities. He is cofounder of Current: a platform for the discussion of environmental histories of architecture, launching summer 2020.
More about the book: https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691170039/modern-architecture-and-climate
Transcript and recommendations for further reading: https://thinkbelt.org/shows/interstitial/modern-architecture-and-climate-daniel-barber