Climatic Architecture: A conversation with Philippe Rahm

Join Swiss architect Philippe Rahm for this in-store discussion about his new book, Climatic Architecture.

The fight against climate change now compels architects and urban designers to seriously reconsider climatic factors in their designs, from local climate considerations to the use of energy resources. In the face of the climate crisis, Philippe Rahm proposes resetting the discipline of architecture to focus on its intrinsic atmospheric qualities. Air, light, heat, and humidity are real building materials, and convection, thermal conduction, evaporation, emissivity, and effusivity should become design tools for shaping architecture and cities. Rahm believes that through dialectical materialism, it is possible to revolutionise aesthetic and social values.

Philippe will give an insightful presentation about how his book Climatic Architecture explores this proposition, followed by questions from the audience. 

NOTE: Tickets strictly limited—ticket price redeemable as a discount of book purchases.

About the speaker

Philippe Rahm is a Swiss architect, principal in the office of Philippe Rahm Architects, based in Paris. His work, which extends the field of architecture from the physiological to the meteorological, has received an international audience in the context of sustainability. His recent work includes the first prize for the Farini competition (60 ha) in Milan in 2019, the 70 hectares Central Park in Taichung, Taiwan, completed in December 2020, a 2700 m2 Exhibition architecture for Luma Foundation in Arles, France. He has held professorships at GSD Harvard University, Cornell, Princeton and Columbia University where he is currently the Dean’s Visiting Associate Professor. He is a tenured associate professor at the National Superior School of Architecture in Versailles, France (ENSA-V).