TY - JOUR
T1 - The Trombe wall out of equipoise
T2 - a missed analysis and communication on the limitations of a sustainable technology
AU - Medici, P.
AU - Zuccaro Marchi, Leonardo
N1 - Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository 'You share, we take care!' - Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care
Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - Throughout the 1960s and the 1970s, some European architectural magazines illustrated the Trombe Wall: a solar collector designed by engineer Felix Trombe, integrated into the southern wall of some housing prototypes by Jacques Michel in France. Magazines such as Architectural Design, Architecture d’Aujourd’hui, Technique et Arquitecture, Casabella and Domus, illustrated these examples especially during the years before and after the 1973 oil crisis. However, they mainly focussed on the technological aspects of the innovation and on energy performances. Taking as a reference the concept of Equipoise described by Sigfried Giedion (1948) and re-considered within the sustainability debate by William Braham,1 the technological interventions of sustainable architectural practices entail three limitations. The first underlines that the interventions could affect the health of the people, the second that sustainability is ultimately a social condition and the third regarded the necessity of regular maintenance and renewal. This article aims to highlight the absence of debate about the three cautions in the magazines throughout the 1970s and the consequence of this lack on sustainable and energy-efficient architecture of today.
AB - Throughout the 1960s and the 1970s, some European architectural magazines illustrated the Trombe Wall: a solar collector designed by engineer Felix Trombe, integrated into the southern wall of some housing prototypes by Jacques Michel in France. Magazines such as Architectural Design, Architecture d’Aujourd’hui, Technique et Arquitecture, Casabella and Domus, illustrated these examples especially during the years before and after the 1973 oil crisis. However, they mainly focussed on the technological aspects of the innovation and on energy performances. Taking as a reference the concept of Equipoise described by Sigfried Giedion (1948) and re-considered within the sustainability debate by William Braham,1 the technological interventions of sustainable architectural practices entail three limitations. The first underlines that the interventions could affect the health of the people, the second that sustainability is ultimately a social condition and the third regarded the necessity of regular maintenance and renewal. This article aims to highlight the absence of debate about the three cautions in the magazines throughout the 1970s and the consequence of this lack on sustainable and energy-efficient architecture of today.
M3 - Article
SN - 2533-297X
SP - 143
EP - 161
JO - Villardjournal
JF - Villardjournal
IS - 02.020
ER -