The actors involved in the definition and implementation of thermal regulations, such as scientists, policy-makers, experts and bureaucrats, all have many different agendas in how to deploy energy-efficient strategies. As means to modernise the building stock, the regulations produced (and/or standards) are then artefacts and the result of compromises, be it economic, technical or social. Focusing on passive climate control, I will present the case of Santiago de Chile, a city facing many environemental problems such as low air quality and poor indoor thermal comfort.

Recently, Chile’s governement, alongside the private sector, is heading towards energy transitions, fostering improvements of building
performance. Being cross-cultural objects, incorporated in a global market, thermal performance’s best practices are transnational and not necessarily locally informed. This can sometimes lead to an omission of the existing cultural or organisational issues when importing a standard in a local context. Across various scales of governance, I try to follow this construction of thermal standards (voluntary or
integrated in the law). Finally, their significance on the urban fabric of Santiago is examined.

Lecture in the Conference "Thermal Standards in Architecture", co-organized by the Swiss National Science Foundation Professorship and Zürich University of Applied Sciences, Mendrisio

Thermal regulations in Santiago de Chile - Between local and global governance

While tools of prediction and simulation used by climatologists and planners are becoming more and more sophisticated, urban futures are increasingly uncertain. In this context, this conference examines the relations between urban and cultural production and the transforming tools and methods for forecasting and simulating climatic futures. It asks, how can cultural production respond to and use climate simulations, and what is the role of architecture, culture and art in envisioning multiple climatic futures?

The term simulation, which originates from the Latin “simulō” or “imitate”, has gained new meaning in recent decades, in which computer simulations have transfromed many scientific and cultural domains (Heymann, Gramelsberger, Mahony 2017). According to Jean Baudrillard’s renowned Simulacra and Simulation (1995), the simulation of reality contains more truth than reality itself. This symposium will therefore focus on simulation in the search for new insights into our uncertain climatic future, especially in cities.

Climatic prediction and simulation have invariably formed part of architecture and urban design. Technologies of simulation for anticipating the environmental and microclimatic effects of design solutions and so called “ecological design” were the prerequisites for rethinking the existing city. In the context of new environmental laboratories since the early 1960s, scientific knowledge on urban climates has been generated through simulation and experimentation (e.g. wind tunnels). Examples of the investigation of wind flows through simulation in closed physical experimental set-ups are the Micrometeorological Wind Tunnel at Colorado State University or the Environmental Simulation Lab in Berkeley, where the wind profiles of emerging high-rise districts have been investigated (Roesler 2022).

In the last decades, simulations in urban design are increasingly complexifying (Batty and Torrens 2005); new instruments and laboratories are playing a systematic role in the scientific anticipation and simulation of the future. At the same time, climate fiction (cli-fi) and ecocriticism have become established ways in which literature and culture reacts and engages with the climate crisis. Architecture and urban design have adopted speculative methods from cultural practices such as literature and film, imagining and planning for multiple scenarios and futures. Cultural production and critique has in turn been informed by urban climatology.

However, although architecture and urban design have turned towards the future as never before, there is a dearth of academic reflection on this turn, and on the significance of simulation technologies and climate speculation for cultural production that reflects on the climate crisis. This transdisciplinary conference asks about the role played by the prediction and simulation of the climate in urban design and cultural production past, present, and future. It will bring together architectural and urban historians, cultural and media theorists, science and technology studies scholars, historians of science and climatology to explore the new role of climate prediction and speculation in urban design and cultural production.

Panel 1

Andri Gerber: How to play CO2: Environmental games as ultimate simulations?

Andri Gerber explores the relationship between games, architecture, and urban design, referencing Jean Baudrillard’s ideas on simulation and simulacra. He argues that games function as simulations, translating aspects of reality into mechanics and themes, with architecture and urban environments often serving as references. However, while games influence how reality is represented, their impact on architectural and urban design has been limited. With increasing awareness of the climate crisis, environmental games present new opportunities for engagement and education but also face challenges. Games are powerful cultural and pedagogical tools, yet they simplify reality and often carry specific ideological biases. They are also technologically fixed, limiting player agency. By considering games as cultural practices, the discussion aims to assess their potential and limitations in shaping architectural thought. A historical perspective will be introduced, tracing the development of environmental games and the increasing complexity of their simulation models.

Anne Dippel: The Depths of Illusion. Knowing Reality Through Computer Simulations

In this talk Anne Dippel explores the decline of concept-based truth in the digital age, focusing on how computer simulations shape knowledge in physics. Using a media ethnography of the quantum physics double-slit experiment and its simulation, Anne Dippel introduces "operational realism" as a way to navigate digital epistemic challenges. The presentation, based on a recent book co-authored with Martin Warnke, examines the ethical implications of algorithmic world design and the role of media in knowledge production. Drawing from new materialism, media theory, and queer-feminist science and technology studies (STS), the talk reflects on different epistemic perspectives through a case study that blends theory and practice with humor and critical insights.

Panel 2

Panel 2: simulation as cultural technique

Marco Caracciolo: Weirded Urban Spaces in Contemporary Fiction and Video Games

Marco Caracciolo explores how the literary mode of the weird is uniquely suited to grappling with the uncertainty of the climate crisis. Originating in H.P. Lovecraft’s early 20th-century work and later reimagined by authors like Jeff VanderMeer and China Miéville, the weird blends science fiction and horror while emphasizing bodily atmospheres. Marco Caracciolo examines how the weirding of urban spaces in fiction enables the simulation of both empirical and affective instabilities caused by climate change. Using China Miéville’s The City & the City (2009) and the video game Alan Wake 2 (2023) as case studies, the talk argues that these narratives provide compelling frameworks for representing climate uncertainty in an emotionally resonant way.

Peter Krapp: Simulation as a cultural technique

In this talk Peter Krapp explores simulation as both a cultural technique and a means of preserving cultural memory through modeling, imitation, and serious play. He examines how simulation serves as a critique of the computer age, tracing its media history from ancient thought experiments to modern computing. Peter Krapp challenges common-sense realism as anti-speculative and highlights simulation’s role in shaping our understanding of mediated reality. The discussion also addresses the theoretical foundations of computing, particularly the ability of universal Turing machines to emulate one another, emphasizing the significance of simulation for digital heritage, archives, museums, and the preservation of digital culture.

With the speakers of Panels 1 and 2: Andri Gerber, Anne Dippel, Marco Caracciolo and Peter Krapp. Moderated by Noa Levin and Sascha Roesler.

PANEL 3

Angela Rout: Reimagining Data: New Approaches to Climate- Responsive

This presentation examines how data visualization and computational methods can be adapted for architecture, allowing practitioners to interpret complex information in spatially and visually intuitive ways. Architecture transforms observations into meaningful spaces for people and the environment, and with digital technologies and ubiquitous sensors, architects now have access to vast new data sources. Architectural data—ranging from observations to visual records—is dynamic and multidimensional. While scientific data analysis methods reveal patterns, they must be reimagined to align with the creative, context-driven nature of design. This lecture explores how redefining architectural data can lead to proactive, climate-responsive solutions that address both environmental and human needs.

Joshua Silver: Observing the Future: Digital Simulation to Sustain Networks of Design Practice

Joshua Silver explores how digital simulation practices help sustain precarious architectural design and construction, particularly in the face of uncertain work conditions and the climate crisis. Using the Los Angeles Academy Museum of Motion Pictures as a case study, he examines two simulation approaches: Transsolar’s "thermal comfort" consulting, which uses simulations to adapt design features to future climate uncertainties, and Kiran Consulting Group’s Discrete Event people flow simulations, which model building occupants as spatial problems to be solved. The paper concludes by reflecting on the limitations of simulations, including their rejection or failure to sustain the futures they propose.

Panel 4

Dario Negueruela del Castillo: Simulating Urban Denkstile: Vision-Language Models as Theoretical Lenses for Uncertain Futures

This presentation introduces an innovative urban simulation approach that integrates data-driven digital twinning with critical urban theory. Utilizing advanced vision-language models (VLMs) enhanced with Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), the method operationalizes the thought styles (Denkstile) of urban theorists like Henri Lefebvre, Walter Benjamin, and Georg Simmel, alongside contemporary paradigms such as assemblage theory and urban metabolism. Rather than merely aggregating data, this approach simulates the complex social, material, and discursive assemblages that shape cities, offering a historically grounded, multi-layered perspective on urban environments. Initial results demonstrate how AI-driven methods facilitate dialogues between theoretical frameworks and urban realities, providing a nuanced alternative to reductionist, purely data-driven models. By critically engaging with simulation as a cultural technique, this work contributes to speculative urban planning, exploring multiple climatic and urban futures while examining AI’s role in cultural production and urban climatology. Ultimately, this fusion of computational innovation and theoretical insight advances discussions on urban resilience, climate adaptation, and the future of cities amid environmental and technological change.

Orit Halpern: Planetary Experiments: Science, Life, and Politics in the Age of the Anthropocene

We are living in an era of planetary experimentation, where the boundaries between scientific laboratories and the world itself have dissolved, as noted by Bruno Latour. Large-scale scientific projects, such as the Event Horizon Telescope and the European Commission’s Destination Earth, exemplify this shift by using the entire planet as an experimental space. The concept of the Anthropocene further reinforces this notion, as human-caused global warming has been framed as both an unintended experiment and a problem requiring deliberate planetary-scale interventions. This paper examines how digital twinning technologies, particularly NVIDIA’s Earth 2 and the EU’s Destination Earth, are reshaping planetary management by automating data analysis and utilizing generative AI for climate crisis response. These developments signal a broader epistemic transformation in how knowledge is produced and life is governed in the digital age.

With the speakers of Panel 3 and 4: Angela Rout, Joshua Silver, Dario Negueruela del Castillo and Orit Halpern. Moderated by Noa Levin and Sascha Roesler.

With all speakers of the day, followed by the conclusion by Sascha Roesler. 

A one-day Symposium organized by the Institute of Urban and Landscape Studies (ISUP), and the Institute for History and Theory of Art and Architecture (ISA), and the Accademia di Architettura in Mendrisio (USI), in collaboration with ZAZ Bellerive – Zentrum Architektur Zürich, at Höschgasse 3, 8008 Zürich

On Simulation: A Cultural Technique for Uncertain Urban Futures

 This study is located at the intersection of architecture and the social sciences. Its core is an ethnographic investigation of how Cairo experiences and tackles urban heatwaves, which was carried out primarily by looking at people’s building practices.

The research is structured along three axes. The first consists of a historical overview of the Egyptian architectural field, based on a critical reading of articles dealing with climate issues since the first local architectural publication in 1939 and semi-structured interviews with architects working in Cairo today. The second section investigates building practices observed in Cairo, with and without an architect’s supervision. The third axis combines a survey of the means used to deal with weather conditions in nine houses and the thermal practices of their inhabitants – with data collected through participant observation.

Urban heat and the public health problems it causes require considering potential drivers of action beyond traditional institutional tools, such as master plans and legal guidelines. Understanding the logic behind the creation of domestic microclimates in its material and social context has so far been neglected. Yet looking at how this logic can be incorporated in architects’ practices of climate-responsive design is a key prerequisite for any realistic solution to urban heatwaves.

Therefore, this doctoral thesis observes how individuals manage the thermal environment in their daily lives, outside of laboratories and architecture and engineering offices. It shows that ethno-architectural enquiry needs to become a standard procedure in climatic design. By shifting the gaze from buildings to those who build and inhabit them, the dissertation challenges the architectural conceptions that structure historiography, knowledge production, and, by extension, architectural design as they are practised today.

Thermal Knowledge in Cairo

What criteria will define the post-carbon energy landscapes? Energy transition has become an important research topic with existing research linking climate, energy and biodiversity. However, the critical question of the transformation impact of energy transition in the territory from the spatial perspectives of land-use change, urban renewal and governance has not been comprehensively considered, opening a vital research gap for future energy landscapes. The research project will address this gap by approaching energy transition as a process of broad socio-spatial transformation of the built and the unbuilt environments, and by analysing specific potentials for integration and synergy of renewable energy systems— such as hydro, solar, wind, biomass—with the urban fabric and ecological processes across scales.

Future Energy Landscapes (of Switzerland)

The aim of this workshop, hosted by the Accademia di architettura in Mendrisio, will be to receive a better understanding from the various bodies, such as foundations, industry and politics and their perspective on architectural research. Among others questions of the distribution of funding will be discussed, but also the criterias of how architectural research is judged and evaluated.

Research in Swiss Architecture: Standards, Politics, Funding

The exhibition promotes the notion of “energy landscape” as a conceptual framework to challenge our current understanding of energy as a cheap and abundant source for architecture. It presents concepts and methods for designing the energy landscapes of the future, taking the greater region of Geneva in Switzerland as its case study. While in the last few decades the discipline of architecture was mainly concerned with the self-sufficiency of individual buildings, the exhibition emphasizes the need for a new urban scale for saving energy, which integrates technological systems and natural processes.

Exhibition at Accademia di Architettura (Mendrisio)

The City as Energy Landscape Exhibition

In the house I study, changes are constantly made in/on the building: adding doors, managing openings with different layers of curtains, protection nets and shutters, sunblind, etc. At the end of the day, these changes are what the project of a house is made of. (…)

The first point is a description of a few works undertaken in the house, to illustrate and explore further the material nature of the project of the house, in line with the material nature of the house itself. The second point consists in discussing the notion of project, when it comes to a house that already exists. Because, considered without distinction of scale, from covering hanging clothes into dusty wind to insulating the roof, the rhythm and the tight succession of these operations allow to redefine the project not only as a horizon, or an aspiration, but rather the whole of these actions that equates to inhabiting the house.

Presentation at the World Congress for Middle Eastern Studies, panel "Good living and home building," co-organized with Samuli Schielke, Sevilla

What a Home is Made of. Construction Matters in Khalifa, Cairo

In this workshop, all team members presented selected findings from their ethnographic fieldwork in Cairo, Chongqing and Santiago de Chile. By foregrounding one particular architectural case study, team members reflected on the mutual reactions between the control of climate, the built environment and the city climate. The discussion revolved around comparing present and future best practices of climate control in these particular cities. Furthermore, aspects such as the interaction of the different forms of thermal practices and thermal knowledge claimed by architects, inhabitants and constructors were addressed.

Team Workshop, Academy of Architecture, Mendrisio

Comparative Studies in Climate Control

Due to global warming, there is a rapidly growing demand for active and passive cooling measures in cities. In this research project, we assume that climate adaptation of cities must be based equally on scientific insights and long-term cultural experiences. Cities already built under subtropical conditions have a rich “thermal heritage” to offer (Roesler 2022a, 2015) from which climate adaptation in Central Europe must learn. What insights can be derived from the study of comparable (analogue) cities, e.g. Milan, for the climate adaptation of Vienna? This research project scrutinises the implementation of the concept of “thermal governance,” as developed by the authors earlier (Roesler, Kobi, Stieger 2022). Just as the political and legal tools addressing global warming have so far been tied spatially to nations, thermal standards and climate control have, so far, been tied to the individual building. There is a need for “governance on other scales” (Coen 2016), to which this project contributes fundamental insights, in view of a more comprehensive urban heat management of cities.

Subtropical Futures of Central European Cities (Vienna, Berlin, and Zurich), Funding USI

Thermal Governance

The vast territory of Xinjiang is characterized by large sand and stone deserts, high mountain ranges and a low population density. Architectural research often considers buildings and settlement practices as climate-responsive, in particular when it comes to the analysis of architecture in rural and small-scale settlements. This paper questions such a mono-causal relation between climate and architecture with research results about the construction of thermal comfort in urban multi-story and high-rise buildings in Ürümqi. Despite climate being associated with a local environment, socio-material practices to mitigate climate like air-conditioning systems, thermal standards and architectural designs expand beyond the place where the building is located. A thermal perspective on Ürümqi’s architecture outlines the spatial dimension of architecture and questions the “on edge” position of Xinjiang. Considering climate in architecture today also refers to the embeddedness of the built environment within the urban political ecology. Through its focus on the construction and use of urban residential buildings, the paper aims to methodologically and theoretically contribute to the field of architectural anthropology in cities.

Paper presentation in the workshop "On Edge: China’s Frontiers in a Time of Change", Kandersteg (12.-14.10.2017)

The Spatial Dimension of Architecture Climate-Responsive Practices and the Built Environment in Ürümqi, Xinjiang

Xynogala’s work features in Lava Mensch, an exhibition at the ETH Graphische Sammlung The curatorial team, consisting of Berit Seidel, Linda Schädler, and Philip Ursprung, explores the collection's history. How were volcanoes depicted in previous centuries, and how are they portrayed today? Does the mythological figure of Vulkan, who forged works of art and weapons for the gods, still resonate? And if so, in what form? What interactions exist between the fields of volcanology, geology, and art? The exhibition complements works from the Graphic Collection with a selection of prints by the naturalist Franz Wilhelm Junghuhn. Also on display are artworks by U5, Armin Linke, and Bas Princen, as well as stones and other three-dimensional geological objects.

Exhibition "Lava Mensch", 3 December 2025 – 8 March 2026, ETH Zürich

Lava Mensch, ETH Graphische Sammlung

Thermal standards exert an increasing impact in architecture. What has been a minor issue in planning processes just three decades ago has become an inflexible determinant in the design practice of architects. Thermal standards increasingly determine the concept, structure and form of buildings; just think of the imperative to insulate building envelopes. Even more, thermal standards turned out to be the silver bullet of Western societies on their way towards energy transition and sustainable architecture. Agencies like the US-American “LEED“, the British “BREEAM“, the German “Passivhaus“ or the Swiss “Minergie“, “2000-Watt Society,“ and “SNBS“ offer certifiable solutions for thermal comfort in combination with the promise of sustainability for architecture and cities. Based on case studies from Switzerland and various international contexts, the conference inquires in what ways the global circulation of thermal standards affects and translates into local design and building practices. Moreover, the conference reflects on the relevance of current standards for thermal concepts of cities beyond the individual house. The conference addresses thermal standards following an multi-disciplinary approach; the participating speakers are architects and social scientists. The conference will be held in three panels followed by a roundtable discussion. 

Prof. Sascha Roesler – THE LEGACY OF PASSIVE CLIMATE CONTROL

Dr. Sabine Von Fischer – CONCEPTS AND CONTEXT OF ENERGY EFFICIENCY

Prof. Elisabeth Shove – THE COMFORT OF STANDARDS AND STANDARDS OF COMFORT

Andreas Hofer – MORE THAN HOUSING: THE HOLISTIC APPROACH	

Prof. Muck Petzet – SOLID BUILDINGS WITH SOLID THERMAL STANDARDS

Prof. Andrew Witt – URBAN SOLAR DESIGN

Dr. Giulia C. Romano – ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND THERMAL INSULATION IN URBAN CHINA

Dr. Emma Street – THE (RE)SCALING OF REGULATORY GOVERNANCE

Conference co-organized by the Swiss National Science Foundation Professorship and Zürich University of Applied Sciences, Mendrisio

Thermal Standards in Architecture

Climate and place-based weather conditions significantly shape everyday practices of urban residents. This workshop explores the different facets of how the subtropical climate has influenced the living conditions in the city of Chongqing. Summer months are extremely hot with temperatures up to 40 degrees Celsius and are mitigated through the use of air-conditioned and ventilated spaces among others. This workshop, however, inquires into the often neglected winter season in a subtropical city. Chongqing winters are mild (5 to 10 degree Celsius in the coolest months). Because most apartments have no heating appliances, outdoor and indoor temperatures are often the same. The seasonal temperature and humidity variation impacts on the local social, cultural and natural environment.

Urban residents in Chongqing are very creative and use rich daily practices when it comes to create comfortable spaces in winter months: food preferences, clothing choices and the use of objects and materials like portable heaters, warm indoor shoes, warming blankets etc. are used to stay warm. Winter climate also changes sociability: due to the unheated indoor spaces, sociability rather takes place in public spaces. This workshop aims to engage with the man-made, socio-technical ways of coping with winter climate in Chongqing. It offers space for 10-15 local and international artists, architects, environmentalists and anthropologists to explore how social practices are lived and influenced by the winter season.

The workshop is structured in three parts:
1. Two-day input phase: on-site visits to artist studios, residential houses, agricultural fields, public places and other places of interest with regards to winter activities. Inputs by local architects, artists, anthropologists and environmentalists on different aspects of winter life.
2. Four-day production phase: Individual or group work on a topic related to winter in Chongqing. This can include art, performance, installation, ethnographic fieldwork, photography or other approaches.
3. Exhibition: The projects and research results of this four-day engagement with winter in Chongqing will be exhibited to a public audience in the venue of the Organhaus in Chongqing.

Through the engagement with public and private spaces, we aim to find out about place-based knowledge and skills how the winter climate in a subtropical zone found its way into local ways of living. The workshop aims to create knowledge through seeing, touching, smelling, and experiencing the local environment and interacting with local residents. Further, the individual projects followed during the production phase provide space for a deeper inquiry into selected topics. The interaction between foreign and local scholars and artists guarantees fruitful discussions as different perspectives on local practices mingle.

Organizers:
Verena Zimmermann, Goethe-Institute Chongqing; Madlen Kobi, Università della Svizzera Italiana; 李丽Li Li, Coordinator Organhaus Chongqing

Exhibition place:
Organhaus art space, 501Art Base, Huang Jueping Street, Jiu Longpo District, Chongqing

Collaborative Workshop with anthropologists, artists and architects in and about Chongqing, 2.-8.12.2017

Winter in Subtropical Chongqing

The study on Geneva addresses the topic of urban climate control in the context of the temperate climate and varying seasons in the central European city. In this research, the various scales of urban typologies, the neighbourhood and individual housing is examined to illustrate how the understanding of thermal comfort, which in Switzerland is based on the high technical standard of building practice, the legal framework and seasonal climate variations, was taken into account by urban planning, architecture and socio-cultural practice in decisive ways. The shift in practice from heating to cooling and the resulting energetic effects are discussed under the term "energy landscape", which serves as a theoretical framework to address different approaches to a synergetic interaction between natural forces, structural interventions and technical systems as a means to manage energy transition.

The cross-examination of data obtained from the mapping of urban climate and environmental information, from on-site measurements of key microclimatic factors and from sociological studies forms the methodological basis of empirical research to assess the quantitative and qualitative relationship between built environment, thermal conditions and social implications in three different districts. The case studies comprise an organically shaped housing estate from the post-modern era, the infra-architectural amalgam developing along Geneva’s waterfront and an apartment in the development zone of one of the city’s mayor industrial district.

Although historically and territorially tightly linked to Geneva, these cases deviate from common planning procedures and thus reveal yet disregarded approaches to energy management for the future by discussing the energetic interactions between natural elements, infrastructure and the urban environment. Based on an ecological reading of urban climatic phenomena and focusing on design-based approaches to energy issues and urban climate, the research questions existing regimes of thermal control on the scale of the individual building and argues for a new scale of governance based on the systematic inclusion of climate relevant factors in planning and execution.

The Energy Landscape of Geneva (Switzerland)

Human activities have caused global climate challenges such as rising sea levels, temperature increase, desertification, climate-induced migration, and extreme weather phenomena. In the city, those global impacts are less perceptible than local environmental changes. Climate danger in the form of urban heat island effects or air pollution threaten physical health. Taking the example of Chongqing, a city located in a subtropical climate in Southwest China, this presentation discusses the ways in which climate dangers affect the thermal, social and political reordering of urban spaces. Drawing on anthropological fieldwork, semi-structured interviews, oral narratives, and architectural history, the presentation engages with human-environment relations in the contemporary Chinese city. In particular, it emphasizes the shifting use of indoor and outdoor spaces related to urbanization since the 1980s. Buildings play a fundamental role both for accelerating urban climate change, but also for providing shelters from the outdoors. On the one hand, construction is resource-intensive, seals urban soils and is energy-consuming. On the other hand, operating energy, especially for climate control of indoors through air-conditioning and heating, emits heat to the urban atmosphere. The presentation investigates into the power of urban governments, ordinary residents, and the construction industry to mitigate urban climate dangers.

Lecture for MURN (Münster Urban Research Network)

Urban Climate as Danger. Thermal, Spatial and Material Reordering in the Chinese City of the 21st Century

Die sechs Kästen werden mit je einem Foto ausgestattet. Die Fotos zeigen Wohnsituationen. Die Kästen ermöglichen dadurch Einblicke in gleichzeitig alltägliche und intime (private) Orte, die normalerweise dem öffentlichen Blick entzogen sind. Der Stadtraum von Schaffhausen wird somit als Bühne genutzt, um den Wohnalltag von anderen Leuten zu zeigen. Die vielfach zitierte Durchdringung von privater und öffentlicher Sphäre wird hier wörtlich verstanden. Die Herkunft der Bilder wird absichtlich offen gelassen. In der Zusammenschau der sechs Bilder erschliesst sich die gleichzeitig kulturelle und transkulturelle Dimension des Wohnens. Die Auswahl und Präsentation der gezeigten Bilder erfolgt vor dem Hintergrund eines migrantischen Daseins, zu dem sich heute weltweit viele Menschen gezwungen sehen.

Der Architekt Sascha Roesler und die Künstlerin Katja Jug sind dem Alltagsleben im tropischen Klima auf die Spur gegangen. Im Interview mit "Urbansurprise" schildern sie ihre Einsichten aus einem Forschungsprojekt, das den Städtebau, die Kunst und den Alltag miteinander verbindet.

Sie zeigen in den sechs Schaffhauser Kunstkästen Fotografien von Menschen und ihren Wohnungen in Singapur. Die Fotografien sind im Rahmen eines gemeinsamen Forschungsprojekts in Singapur entstanden. Worum ging es in diesem Projekt?

Sascha Roesler: Ich habe am ETH-Stadtforschungsinstitut "Future Cities Laboratory" ein Forschungsprojekt geleitet. In diesem Projekt haben wir die Formen der Belüftungen im Massenwohnungsbau in Singapur und in Medan untersucht. Es ist dort sehr heiss und feucht und darum gibt es eine lange Tradition von natürlichen Belüftungen. Die Bewohner Singapurs haben sich seit jeher überlegt, wie sie mit der Architektur und dem Städtebau möglichst angenehme Lebensbedingungen schaffen können. Zum Beispiel mit Querlüftungen oder über Grünräume. Wir sind zusammen nach Singapur. Ich als Mitarbeiter der ETH und Katja Jug als freie Künstlerin. Katja Jug hat in diesem Projekt einen Bereich abgedeckt, der in architektenbasierten Forschungsprojekten durch die Maschen fallen würde.

Sascha Roesler: Obwohl in Singapur Klimaanlagen sehr wichtig geworden sind, haben wir auch die alten Kulturen der Klimatisierung untersucht. Dabei war uns der Zugang zu einer Wohn- und Alltagskultur wichtig, den Katja Jug mit ihrer Arbeit abgedeckt hat.

Katja Jug: Die Alltagskultur beschäftigt mich in meiner Arbeit immer wieder. Der Raum, das Wohnen und das Zusammenleben. Uns beide wiederum interessiert das Interdisziplinäre. Das ist auch die Basis für eine solche Zusammenarbeit.

Wie sah diese Zusammenarbeit konkret aus?

Sascha Roesler: Wir arbeiten beide sehr forschungsbasiert. Katja Jug in der Kunst und ich in der Architektur. Die Herangehensweise und die Arbeit selbst haben wir stets im Dialog entwickelt.

Katja Jug: Da wir uns regelmässig austauschen geschieht vieles im Gespräch. Der Zugang zu den Themen hat etwas Erzählerisches. Dadurch entdecken wir immer wieder Neues.

Katja Jug, wie gelang es ihnen all diese Menschen in ihren privaten Räumen zu fotografieren?

Katja Jug: Im Vorfeld dieses Projekts habe ich darüber nachgedacht, wohin ich mit dem Projekt will und wie ich die Menschen ansprechen könnte. Darüber hinaus machte ich mir Gedanken darüber wie ich das visuell einfangen könnte. Zunächst einmal habe ich einen Fragebogen zusammengestellt. Fragen etwa nach dem Umgang mit der Hitze und nach den persönlichen Methoden sich abzukühlen. Also letztlich ganz individuelle Fragen, die darauf abzielen, ob ich daraus einen gemeinsamen Nenner oder das Gegenteil davon ableiten kann. Danach habe ich über mein Netzwerk die ersten Kontakte geknüpft. Die Treffen mit den Bewohnern verliefen sehr gut und es waren stets sehr interessante Gespräche. Zu meinem Erstaunen waren die Menschen offen. Ich habe zumindest erwartet, dass es etwas schwieriger werden wird. Der Zugang zu den Bewohnern und die Gespräche waren mir sehr wichtig.

Katja Jug: Ich habe mit ihnen über ihren Alltag geredet. Über ihre Familien und wie sie leben. Ich lasse mich in meinen künstlerischen Projekten von der Erfahrung und dem Prozess leiten. Und es ist auch immer die Begegnung mit den Menschen, die mich interessiert. In Singapur ist aufgrund der Treffen eine grosse Fotoserie entstanden.

Was haben Sie während ihrer Forschungsarbeit herausgefunden? Gibt es in Singapur einen allgemeingültigen Umgang mit dem hiesigen Klima?

Katja Jug: Es ist etwas, das keine allgemein gültigen Regeln kennt. Das Allgemeine ist, dass es etwas sehr Individuelles ist, wie die Temperaturen empfunden werden und wie damit umgegangen wird. Auch die Einheimischen, die sich an dieses Klima gewöhnt haben, sagen es sei viel zu heiss. Sie verbringen beispielsweise den Tag in einem klimatisierten Raum und achten darauf, dass sie sich tagsüber möglichst nicht im Freien aufhalten müssen. Viele junge Leute leben heute in klimatisierten Wohnungen.

Sascha Roesler: Ältere Leute hingegen bevorzugen eher natürliche Belüftungsmethoden. Das ist dann auch ein anderes Wohnen, das ein bestimmtes Verhalten mit sich zieht. Die Türen müssen offen bleiben und man muss dazu bereit sein, die Räume mit anderen zu teilen. Das sind Phänomene, die uns interessierten. Vergleicht man nach ethnischer Zugehörigkeit, entdeckt man ebenfalls Unterschiede.

Können Sie ein konkretes Beispiel nennen?

Katja Jug: Besonders bleibt mir ein Besuch in einem Mehrgenerationenhaus in Erinnerung. Dort habe ich eine Frau und ihre Familie getroffen. Die Frau hat mir erzählt, wie in einem solchen Haus gelebt wird. Das Mehrgenerationenhaus war zwar mit Klimaanlagen ausgestattet, diese wurde jedoch nicht gebraucht. Stattdessen haben die Bewohner dafür gesorgt, dass stets die Vorhänge zugezogen sind, damit es schattig ist. Das ist ein sehr natürlicher Umgang mit der Hitze.

Sascha Roesler: Es ist ein deutlicher Generationenunterschied auszumachen. Die Jungen sind es sich gewohnt, in klimatisierten Räumen, die auf 18 Grad heruntergekühlt werden, zu leben, vergleichbar mit dem Winter in der Schweiz, während dem alle Räume 23 Grad warm sein müssen. Der Energieverbrauch, den dieses Verhalten mit sich zieht, ist irrsinnig. Darum forsche ich in diesem Gebiet, mit dem Ziel herauszufinden, ob es noch eine grössere Klaviatur an Möglichkeiten geben würde.

Katja Jug, auf ihren Fotografien sind viele grüne Innenhöfe zu sehen. Ist Singapur eine sehr grüne Stadt oder täuscht der Eindruck?

Katja Jug: Singapur ist sehr grün. Das ist das erste was auffällt. Diese schöne Natur mitten in der Stadt ist die Qualität von Singapur. Die meisten Grünflächen sind gestaltet.

Sascha Roesler: Im Vergleich zu Hongkong, einer Stadt die nur aus Häusern besteht, fallen die Grünräume in Singapur sofort auf. Singapur ist eine Hochhausstadt. Dadurch hat man sehr hohe Dichten erreicht. Singapur hat es jedoch geschafft, damit sehr grosse Flächen frei zu spielen. Es gibt viele Pärke und einen Regenwald in der Stadt. Das ist sehr eindrücklich.

Zurück zum Kunstkastenprojekt in Schaffhausen. Gibt es etwas Gemeinsames zwischen Singapur und Schaffhausen?

Sascha Roesler: Vielleicht der Grünraum, der auch in Schaffhausen in Reichweite ist. Der eigentliche Reiz am Kunstkastenprojekt mitzumachen war die Möglichkeit, unsere Arbeit im Kontext des öffentlichen Raumes der Stadt zu zeigen.

Katja Jug: Mich haben die Schaukästen als Räume interessiert. Uns ging es vor allem darum, mitten im öffentlichen Raum intime Einblicke in alltägliche Wohnsituationen zu ermöglichen.

Ausstellung im Rahmen von urbansurprise, dem neuen Programm “Kunst und Architektur“ in den Schaffhauser Kunstkästen

Im Zentrum, ein Zelt (Zusammen mit der Künstlerin Katja Jug)

In this workshop, Dr. Marcel Brülisauer provided an understanding for and the necessary skills for data-driven approaches in climate-ethnographic research projects in the field. The discussed methods involved

- Deploying sensor networks for data collection, especially air temperature, humidity and surface temperatures
- Collecting and analysing data
- Visualising data

Team workshop “Sensing and Visualizing Microclimates. Workshop for Data-Driven Methods and Tools” with Dr. Marcel Brülisauer

Sensing and Visualizing Microclimates. Workshop for Data-Driven Methods and Tools

In my talk, I will revisit the German term "Stoffwechsel," which was coined in the 19th century by such prominent figures as the chemist Justus von Liebig, who defined the term scientifically, the philosopher Karl Marx and the architect Gottfried Semper, who gave the term theoretical significance. Literally, Stoffwechsel means "(ex)change of matter". Over the course of the 19th century, the term Stoffwechsel moved beyond its scientific origins in physiology and reverberated widely across the areas of economics, technology, art, and architecture. In the light of these writings, Stoffwechsel means both the "transformability of materials" in architecture (Ákos Moravánszky) and the "metabolic regimes" of urban and ecological systems (Timothy Morton), thus addressing the character of the development of the material world. According to Marx, Stoffwechsel does not occur solely as a biochemical automatism, but always requires also "labor". Labor appears as a "process between man and nature"; through labor, Stoffwechsel leaves the purely natural automatisms, such as digestion or photosynthesis. The decisive factor here was to analyse Stoffwechsel not as a mere abstraction (metabolism), but as a concrete exchange of matter through transforming labor (metamorphosis), which corresponded to the basic intuitions of the architect Gottfried Semper. Semper carried out an early anthropological analysis of labor as a process of making, which added the aspect of form to the production of things that cannot be reduced to technology and matter. It is only by considering this multifaceted theoretical legacy that the significance of Stoffwechsel for today’s ecological thinking can be revealed.

Conference “Marx in the Anthropocene”, 11-14 March 2025, IUAV, Venice (Italy)

Labor and Form – Revisiting "Stoffwechsel"

Chair of Architectural Design and Participation, TU Munich

Chair of Theory of Urbanization and Urban Environments, USI Mendrisio

The WATER FUTURES exhibition explores the potential of water not only as a physical substance, but also as a medium that shapes and is shaped by the urban and architectural imagination. In our time, there is an undeniable urgency to address water as more than just a commodity. Issues such as the privatisation of resources, scarcity, contamination and large-scale extractive practices make this engagement critical and urgent. Yet, water also continues to serve as a generative force - promoting health, care and collective action. To address these challenges, water pedagogies in architectural education must embrace water’s dual character: as a site of crisis and as a source of creativity, community and resilience.

The joint travelling exhibition of two chairs from the Technical University Munich (Germany) and the Accademia di Architettura in Mendrisio (Switzerland) presents student projects on the theme of WATER FUTURES. It highlights the project outcomes of the design studios of the Chair of Architectural Design and Participation headed by Prof. Francis Kéré (2022-2024) and the results of a research seminar of the Chair of Theory of Urbanization and Urban Environments under the direction of Prof. Sascha Roesler (2023). The exhibition builds multiple bridges between architectural design and research, while addressing the pressing global water challenges that are exacerbated by climate change.

The Chair of Architecture Design and Participation projects emphasised contextual sensitivity and encouraged students to develop site-specific solutions through a mix of conceptual thinking and hands-on experimentation. Over the past six semesters, students have addressed water challenges at a variety of scales and design programmes. These range from elements to buildings, from devices to landscape masterplans, with a focus on unconventional water sources and resilient architecture. Projects from the design briefs COLLECTRA[SH], FOODTOPIA, [SUP]PORT and WATER EVER showcase creative interventions from around the world, that address local issues such as flooding, drought, pollution, local resource availability, biodiversity, passive systems and underline the need for spaces that benefit local communities while proposing sustainable systems for water harvesting and use. The projects point to possible directions for the future of architecture when faced with water-related challenges.

The works by the Chair of Theory of Urbanization and Urban Environment's research seminar focused on the future impact of rising sea levels on the (urban) coastal environment, urging students to combine scientific knowledge with architectural foresight. The seminar emphasized the need for future-oriented competence of architects; it equipped the students with tools to anticipate and adapt to ecological changes. The students explored the future of cities through interdisciplinary approaches, incorporating sociological, technological and political insights to promote resilient infrastructure and urban planning strategies for a series of case studies worldwide.

Combining the site-specific projects with real-scale components by the Chair of Architectural Design and Participation with the research-based scenarios by the Chair of Theory of Urbanization and Urban Environmentseminar, this touring exhibition presents an integrated view of how architecture and urbanism can address the multiple challenges of climate change. The works on display emphasise the importance of collaborative, interdisciplinary efforts to design a resilient way forward for our water-affected landscapes.

ZAZ Bellerive - Zentrum Architektur, Zurich 

Water and Time in Education and Design

With the exhibition "For Sumatra (Man-made Weather)“ a monument for the venting system of the Sumatran tobacco barn shall be erected. The monument comprises three parts: a model, a manual, and a film. Tobacco barns are both highly localised and globalised building types. They are, with a word of the Swiss writer and tobacco fetishist Herman Burger, the "tobacco cathedrals“ of the globalized tobacco production, which spread worldwide since the second half of the 19th century. In these buildings, vernacular, informal, industrial and modern influences are overlaid on top of one another. Tobacco barns are large-scale drying equipment designed to enable the curing of tobacco leaves by modifying microclimatic conditions. The main objective of tobacco barns, in which the tobacco leaves are hung to dry, is the production of relatively uniform climatic conditions inside. The three main climatic parameters air temperature, relative humidity and wind velocity must be brought under the control of the tobacco producers. A successful curing process protects the leaves from larger fluctuations of these three parameters inside of the buildings. Based on fieldwork conducted in 2013 and 2014 in the former Swiss colonial plantation "Helvetia“, near the city of Medan (Sumatra, Indonesia), the exhibition presents the structure and the mechanisms of these passive houses.

Swiss Art Award, Art Fair Basel, Switzerland

For Sumatra (Man-Made Weather)

In the discipline of architecture to date, hardly any approaches exist to integrate into architectural education knowledge of construction as it is found in vernacular and informal building. The following remarks are intended as a plea for the establishment of a new academic discipline that comprehensively addresses such vernacular building traditions, commonly referred to as “architecture without architects” (Rudofsky 1964). The discipline will be entitled “architectural anthropology”; subject matter of this discipline would primarily consist of domestic, non-European building phenomena. Architectural anthropology comprises an interdisciplinary field of knowledge, in which architects – as well as anthropologists – play a crucial role. The following considerations deal only with the (possible) contribution of architects to this new discipline.

Presentation at the 4th International Congress on Construction History, Paris

Architectural Anthropology: A Knowledge-Based Approach

Keynote Lecture at the INUAS (International Network of Universities of Applied Sciences) conference 2019 “Housing under Pressure. Dynamics Between Centers and Peripheries”

Urban Climate in Everyday Life on Heating Practices in Southern China

Climate Architecture and Politics

Historically, Tropical Architecture is a modern knowledge produced under colonial conditions. This knowledge can be described as an attempt to regulate the tropical climate through design and building solutions. How can we deconstruct the colonial heritage of Tropical Architecture whilst at the same time harnessing its sophisticated technical and cultural achievements for contemporary globalised architecture? Today’s challenge lies in the transformation of the historical concept of Tropical Architecture into a contemporary theory of construction. Tropical Architecture has to be understood both as a historical and a timeless concept (one which urgently needs updating). From these twin perspectives, the British pavilion will look to both the British colonial past of the 20th century, and to contemporary global endeavours towards sustainability in architecture and construction. Tropical Architecture will be understood as a forerunner to green and sustainable architectural strategies (with, indeed, a lot of ambiguities to be discovered).

Research and Exhibition Concept for the British Pavilion at the 14th Venice Architecture Biennale 2014

Adaptations. British Tropical Architecture in the Age of Modernity

By this presentation, I invited you to design—in the frame of your diploma project in Salzburg—not just a building but also to develop an innovative thermal project for the city. I introduced an new way of looking at the thermal conditions of cities: the city as a cluster of overlapping and mutually interacting microclimates where the inside is not independent from the outside and vice versa. The concept of microclimate transcends the modern idea of a strict devide into the inside and outdoor space at all costs (buildings and outdoor spaces).

Lecture in the frame of the diploma lectures “Salisburgo. Tra memoria e contemporaneity“, Accademia di architettura, Mendrisio, Università della Svizzera italiana

Lecture on “Thermal Comfort versus Thermal Delight"

In this lecture, I would like to remind you that gardens have always been appreciated as places of particular thermal qualities. Our very understanding of microclimates in general, as I wish to show, is coined by the perception of gardens. Therefore, I conceive the garden as an exemplary place of microclimatic experience. Such an experience is in sharp contrast to the modern concept of comfort, which basically relys on not providing thermal sensations (on not feeling the microclimatic conditions of a place). Gardens exceed the anesthesia set up by the 20th century’s notion of comfort.

Lecture in the frame of the conference “Salus in horto. I benefici del giardino dalla Bibbia agli Healing Gardens”, Accademia di architettura, Università della Svizzera italiana

The Garden as Exemplary Place of Microclimatic Experience

Since the early 1960s, like hardly any other dwelling form the rapid proliferation of the hillside Terrassenhaus (terraced house) has expedited the transformation of the Swiss landscape. Legal, technical and constructive advancements in the building sector eventually facilitated the exploitation of the steep topography by using this building type, which was celebrated by its supporters – despite the historical evolvement – as a new, modern and specifically Swiss dwelling form. Nevertheless, this initial popularity soon gave way to profound criticisms concerning the architecture’s amorphous design. The typology defied the notion of common urbanist categories by transgressing the traditional distinction between a house and the city, by addressing both architectural and infrastructural aspects and, not least, by simultaneously emphasising both the individual and the collective. As the buildings and projects by local architects from the period exemplify, the core strength of the Terrassenhaus lies precisely in this ambiguous character, whose potential for urban design has barely been recognised and exhausted as such.

Lecture at the Symposium "Béton Fédérateur", ETH Zürich

Both High-Rise and Bunker: The Terrassenhaus in Switzerland

Paul Brechignac, Nicolo Clerici, Giulia Donati, Valentin Goetze: Let’s start light: what is you personal definition of sustainability?

Sascha Roesler: I don’t have one. I usually don’t even use the term. But I’m certainly interested in many aspects in this field. In my case I’m more focused on the notion of passive climate control in urban contexts. In this sense I’m also participating in this very broad and undefined field of sustainability in architecture.

PB,NC,GD,VG: Do you feel this is something that allows you to stay open minded about what sustainability is or is it more of a moral stance, that sustainability shouldn’t be a topic?

SR: The world is changing so fast today, and in a completely different way as 20 years ago, and we have enormous problems to address, maybe not to solve (laughs). In this respect, I’m also trying to participate in this field. I am a researcher, an academic. And in this sense, sustainability for me is not a analytical tool. Its more of a normative notion. We all have to be sustainable, it is a moral responsibility today.

PB,NC,GD,VG: In your teaching, you seem to be focused on the city.

SR: Yes, to me the most important is to consider the city as a new kind of environment. Its not only that 50 percent of the people live in cities, but entire world is urbanised in some way.

If you go in the countryside in Indonesia, it is also urbanised: they have internet, smartphones, they use bricks that were produced somewhere else. Cities involve both the natural and the manmade. That why I refer to political ecology more that ecology itself. meaning we have to try to link society and nature in a new manner. This idea have been coined by many different persons, but was best described I think by Bruno Latour, the french sociologist.

This notion is, in my case, much more interesting than sustainability, or ecology. I mean would also like to live in a beautiful environment, with green grass and clean air. But if we look at real problems of cities, maybe not Mendrisio (laughs), but Jakarta, then we need to face completely different problems. The air is polluted, people use air condition while leaving the doors open. Manmade problems are entangled with natural phenomena.

The notion of political ecology address this situation better than sustainability or ecology.

PB,NC,GD,VG: Your teaching also seems to be focused on case studies.

SR: Yes, the other members of my team study specific cities: Santiago in Chile, Cairo in Egypt, Urumqi in China. I try to develop a new theoretical framework in terms of passive climate control, that’s the plot of this 4 year research.

PB,NC,GD,VG: And what disciplines are involved in this theoretical framework? Political ecology for example seems to deal with philosophy and sociology.

SR: We work within the framework of architectural theory. But we mainly refer to problems raised by social sciences: how people live and control climate conditions. We also try to integrate our studies within ethnographic research. The PhD students usually to stay on site for a year to observe how people live. For example in the case of Lionel in Santiago, Chile turned out to be more globalized than we think, so maybe concepts developed in Switzerland

are being exported to Chile. Which is crazy.

PB,NC,GD,VG: The title of your lecture — “Against Comfort” — is quite provocative. Should comfort concentrates on technical aspect or on the design one?

SR: The choice of this title for my lecture was quite polemical but I think it’s relevant to fight against comfort; it means, first of all, that we have two question today: the neutrality and the universality of this concept that emerged during the 20th century in certain society in US and Europe. Comfort means to provide a constant temperature and humidity at all costs, that is the main theme of this energy week performance. I really try to investigate the history of comfort and try to understand why today it is a strong concept, and I think that you are the new generation that can go forward. The question of comfort means to rethink our idea of microclimate, that would be what we tried to do in our seminary: rethinking the idea of microclimate and its relationship with the different spaces of a building. It’s not necessary that an entire building has to have 20 degrees during winter but maybe just the core could have 22 degrees as you can expect.

PB,NC,GD,VG: Do you think that in the last years in Europe we are doing something in order to have a friendly way of comfort or not?

SR: The situation is very different in Europe and Asia. In India and Indonesia the middle class would like to copy the Western way of living and its standard. But we can not change it. As architects we have to rethink certain ideas of the 20 century. Your generation simply does not have to copy what former architects have done in the past. It is necessary to open up your possibilities how to heat and cool the environment. I am not saying that we simply have to replace everything in the existing buildings but we could rethink and make them better. If we could heat only 50% of the building stock to 15 ° C it would have an enormous impact of the energy performance.

PB,NC,GD,VG: How does the approaches differ between Europe and the rest of the world?

SR: At least in Switzerland we can question certain development in the last decades. But going further such as India and China we have to accept that the middle class want to reach a new living standard: heated and cold environment. On the one hand it is their right to have this aspiration, but on the other hand we have to find a compromise. This is not a sustainable way of life and structure in the built environment.

PB,NC,GD,VG: Why did you choose these far away locations for your case studies?

SR: It is my personal interest. I have that planetary vision. All these approach to architecture and passive climate control can be compared and balanced. I want to consider various by chosen by the PhD researchers, according to their preferences.

PB,NC,GD,VG: Can we benefit from the traditional Asian/African/South American methods of construction in order to improve the sustainability in the Western world?

SR: Certainly but never in a direct way. There is always a need of translation. You can not look at the mud building and implement directly to our location. It should be part of the repertoire of the contemporary architect. There really is an Eurocentric idea of architecture which should be abounded. This aspect is part of my teaching activities and background. The topic of my PhD concentrates on how the modern architects were influenced by ethnography:

How modern architects were interested in varies living conditions and building traditions outside of their own cultural background.

PB,NC,GD,VG: About this question of implementation, in your lecture you spoke about the relation with the government. Is it more a down to up or up to down approach?

SR: I think it always depends on the particular situation you are dealing with. I lived in Singapore. The entire metropolis was built in 3-4 decades, starting from the 60s, therefore there is no old town. This allows the government to implement legislation in very top down manner. Originally people were used to have cross ventilation in their apartments, which is amazing. Now people are using air conditioning. In Switzerland it is the opposite; it is a much more individualistic society. Therefore, it always depends on the specific site, area and government you are dealing with. This idea of looking at passive house control in urban contexts, implies coordination, not a various and private approach, so it’s not just and individual business. For example: ‘I want to have my personal villa using a certain type of climate control and consequently this influences the entire environment.’ You have to sit together and evaluates the gains and consequences on the entire surrounding, and this is the challenge especially for you, young students!

PB,NC,GD,VG: Which person or institute would you recommend to be included in the RRR Symposium of Sustainability?

SR: From my personal experience, it’s quite obvious to involve and recommend the “Future Cities Lab” of the ETH. I was working there for 2 years and a half, it is really a huge research institute, based in Singapore and referring to other areas in China. It’s a interdisciplinary institute as well.

PB,NC,GD,VG: Would you also include traditional manufacture from Asia, Africa?

SR: Yes, it could be really interesting, we have Francis Kerè here at the school, therefore of course you could also invite him but I think you may be even more fascinating to invite someone from his village, but it would be a challenge to integrate them in the Symposium.

PB,NC,GD,VG: Do you think the government representatives could be interested to participate in this kind of conferences?

SR: Certainly, from Switzerland I don’t really have a specific person. But I think that politicians are definitely very important in this kind of debate, nothing could be done without involving them.

Prof. Muck Petzet, Professorship of Sustainable Design, Accademia di architecture, Mendrisio (Switzerland)

Interview for the “Sustainable Design Blog"

The fragility of urban infrastructures is not only related to natural conditions, but it can be an inherent feature of the political economy. In China where the urban built environment expanded rapidly since the 1990s, fragile buildings are desired as they nourish the capitalist-oriented real estate and national economy. On the one hand, the built obsolescence guarantees continuous working possibilities for construction companies. On the other hand, fragile building envelopes enable the externalization of maintenance costs to create thermal comfort on inhabitants. Based on ethnographic data, this paper inquires into the economic, ecological and social implications of a poor thermal infrastructure in multi-story apartment houses in subtropical Chongqing (China). In addition to being located in China’s southern “non-heated zone”, the insufficiently implemented ecological building regulations lead to a fragile materiality of apartment buildings, e.g. lack of insulation, poor building materials, single-glazed windows. Through this practice, architects and constructors maximize profits and residents develop their own “system of thermal-material culture” (Shove, Walker, and Brown 2014:118)by selecting objects such as heating blankets, small electronic heating devices, airconditioning or quilted pajamas to mitigate indoor climates. These socio-technical practices are a reaction to the fragility of the housing stock. They are connected to aspects of the urban ecology (with large energy demands satisfied by coal power stations), to social stratification (with poor people not being able to afford energy costs) and to citizenship-state relationships (with citizens relying on themselves rather than on institutions).

(Reference: Shove, Elizabeth, Gordon Walker, and Sam Brown 2014 "Material Culture, Room Temperature and the Social Organisation of Thermal Energy." Journal of Material Culture 19(2): 113–124.)

The Second Interdisciplinary Conference, Perspectives on Urban Infrastructure History and the Social Sciences. Theme: The Fragile City: Creation, Expansion, Collapse and Resilience, Università Ca' Foscari, Venice, Italy

Cold Infrastructure. Economic, Ecological and Social Implications of a Fragile Materiality of Urban Architecture and Thermal Infrastructures in Chongqing (China)

Mit wel­chen bau­li­chen und land­schafts­ar­chi­tek­to­ni­schen Mass­nah­men rüs­tet sich das Ho­bel­werk für den Kli­ma­wan­del? Wie re­du­zie­ren wir den Hitze-Ef­fekt in Ge­bäu­den und in der Um­ge­bung? Wie gehen wir spar­sam mit Res­sour­cen um und ver­bes­sern den Was­ser­kreis­lauf? Wie ver­bes­sern wir damit auch das Wohl­be­fin­den und die Ge­sund­heit der Men­schen auf dem Areal? In die­ser Fach­ver­an­stal­tung geben Ex­pert/innen mög­li­che Ant­wor­ten.

Vortrag im Rahmen der Fachveranstaltung “Mikro- und Gebäudeklima”, Winterthur, organisiert durch die Genossenschaft “Mehr als Wohnen”

Gebäudekühlung im (sozialen) Wohnungsbau der Schweiz

Global warming and climate change bring about dramatic challenges for social housing. The function of housing and housing environments as shelter against heat, rain and storm receives new attention, even in regions that have for long not been prone to adverse weather conditions. To explore this field and learn from emerging practice, we have assembled contributions that look at local, formal and informal solutions to climate adaptation and mitigation in social housing. Cases that will be discussed include practices from South America, Europe and Asia. Presentations and discussion will be organised in three thematic strands. For each strand, there will be an online session with a mix of statements, presentations and comments. As international expert, we’d be glad if you could prepare a brief statement (around 5 minutes) that consists of key findings of your work and points that you’d like to emphasise as crucial to consider for future practice and research. Below you find some questions that hopefully give some orientation.

Online roundtable discussion, in the frame of the conference “Climate Adaption and Mitigation in Social Housing,” IBA ResearchLab / International Summer School 2020 “New Social Housing,” Vienna (Austria)

Climate Adaption and Mitigation in Social Housing – Local and Bottom-up Perspectives

As heat waves are increasing, with serious consequences on public health and cities livability, high-tech solutions alone are not enough to answer climatic challenges in urban environment. In places like Cairo, where public authorities at the city scale has few means to invest in measures for mitigating climatic problems, investigating other channels of actions becomes a necessary step that remains to be done. Therefore, I chose to investigate domestic practices and building activities related to climate, that, despite shaping the majority of the built environment of Cairo today, remains apart from the field of what is recognized as architecture.

ASNET Seminar, Institute of Advanced Studies on Asia, University of Tokyo, org. by Emi Goto, discussant: Toshio Ootsuki.

Building a Living / Living a Building Crossing Scales and Modes of Knowledge in the Creation of the Urban Climate in Cairo

Lecture within the framework of the exhibition "Future Cities: Research in Action“ at the Urban Redevelopment Authority Centre, Singapore.

2025

Labor and Form – Revisiting "Stoffwechsel"

Bathing in the Field (Tokyo University of the Arts / On Utopian Sentiments)

DOMa Diaries, Benaki Museum Athens

2021

Urban Climate as Danger. Thermal, Spatial and Material Reordering in the Chinese City of the 21st Century

Entanglements in the more-than-human City. Ethnographic Challenges in the Anthropocene

2020

Arquitectura y Etnografia

Climatic Scenery in Large Halls

2019

Both High-Rise and Bunker: The Terrassenhaus in Switzerland

Building a Living / Living a Building Crossing Scales and Modes of Knowledge in the Creation of the Urban Climate in Cairo

Thermal Knowledge in and Around Architecture in Cairo

Urban Planning on the African Continent

Theory of Practice Versus Architectural Theory

Contours of an urban Architectural Anthropology: City Climate, Built Environment and Socio-Material Practices in Chongqing (Southwest China)

Heat and Dust. A Climate Ethnography of a House in Historic Cairo

Gebäudekühlung im europäischen Wohnungsbau

2018

What a Home is Made of. Construction Matters in Khalifa, Cairo

Zeitgenössische Formen der Urbanisierung in China

DIY Microclimate. Thermal Cairene Expertise Updated

Die Stadt als materielle Kultur - Annäherungen an eine urbane Architekturethnologie

2017

Thermal regulations in Santiago de Chile - Between local and global governance

Lecture on “Thermal Comfort versus Thermal Delight"

A Place in the Sun. Thermal Knowledge(s) in Cairo's Domestic Architecture

Constructing Cityscapes: Anthropological Perspectives on Architecture and Materiality in Urban China

A Breath of Fresh Air. Enlarging the Scope of Thermal Knowledge in Cairo's Residential Architecture

Climate Heritage Keeping Heritage Alive… and Liveable

Architecture as a social Science? Doing Fieldwork in Cairo

A Breath of Fresh Air. Enlarging the Scope of Thermal Knowledge in Cairo's Residential Architecture

Reflecting on the Globalization of Passive Climate Control - The Case of Santiago de Chile

Recognizing Thermal Knowledge: Climate Heritage in the residential Architecture in Cairo, Egypt

Welche Bedeutung hat Architektur für die Gesellschaft

Architectural Anthropology as an Omission in Architectural Theory

Microclimates, Materialities and Methods. Towards an Urban Anthropology of Architecture

Heritage Perceptions and Gentrification in Bo-Kaap, Cape Town

Methods and Challenges of Urban Architectural Anthropology

North = Active, South = Passive. Non-Heating Zones in China and the Global Standardization of Passive Climate Control

2016

On Fieldwork. Architecture and Ethnography

Lecture on "Thermal Standards and Affordable Housing. Singapore‘s Social Housing System HDB"

André M. Studer in Marokko

Outline of a Microclimatic Portrait of Cairo – Methods of Ethnography

Schweizer Architektur? Das Habitat Marocain von Hentsch/Studer in Casablanca

Can the Universal be Specific?

2015

Singapore’s Urban Mass Housing and the Problem of Ventilation

2014

Man-made Weather. Natural Ventilation as Cultural Heritage of Southeast Asia

Natural Ventilation, revisited

2012

Architectural Anthropology: A Knowledge-Based Approach

2009

Selbstbau ohne und mit Architekten