Architecture can reduce dependence on carbon fuels by reimagining the collective relationship to comfort. It’s not enough to ‘build more efficiently’ to curb the extraction of fossil fuels; rather, the duration of fossil fuel dependence will be determined in large part by how rapidly and radically existing buildings can be decarbonized. Everyone will adapt to the excesses of the climate-changed world, either by default or by design. Life after comfort need not be uncomfortable. But it will involve adjusted desires, compromises, and difficult choices.
A series of interviews were conducted with various employees of the Nieuwe Instituut, from the floor manager and conservation specialist in the archives to the director, head of facilities, a technician, and more. These recorded interviews take place at a unique moment in the history of the Nieuwe Instituut building: in the midst of the first comprehensive renovation of the building’s heating, ventilation, and cooling systems. The interviews focus on the thermal knowledge relationships that various stakeholders in the institution have with the building, as well as the stakes, opportunities, and challenges of climate control and renovation.
After Comfort: A User’s Guide is a project by e-flux Architecture in collaboration with the University of Technology Sydney, the Technical University of Munich, the University of Liverpool, and Transsolar.
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Climate Portraits: Nieuwe Instituut was commissioned by the 11th International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam “Nature of Hope.”
Thanks to Roeland van den Berg, Janna Bystrykh, Aric Chen, Flora van Gaalen, Mirjam ten Have, Viola Lisapaly, Alfred Marks, Radesh Ramcharan, Romy Ruigrok, Saskia van Stein, Bertus Visser, and Tijn van de Wijdeven.
Film by Juan Benavides, directed by Nick Axel and Daniel A. Barber.
