Author(s): |
Andrew Cruse
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Medium: | conference paper |
Language(s): | English |
Conference: | 6th International Congress on Construction History (6ICCH 2018), July 9-13, 2018, Brussels, Belgium |
Published in: | Building Knowledge, Constructing Histories [2 vols.] |
Page(s): | 249-255 |
Year: | 2018 |
Abstract: | The relationship of climate to construction reveals the complexities and contradictions of thermal comfort. In this paper, I frame three different ideas of comfort, and discuss how they have developed in the tropical climate of Vietnam. The first is a colonial idea of comfort that emerged from nineteenth century tropical medicine and can be found in the planning and construction of the French colonial city of Dalat. The second is an air-conditioned comfort, introduced to Vietnam during the Cold War in both American and Soviet-designed buildings. The third is an adaptive comfort, found in the work of many young Vietnamese architects whose design-based approach to comfort is attuned to the country's social and meteorological milieux. These examples highlight how comfort in Vietnam has been socially and materially constructed, as well as suggesting connections between climate adaptation and cultural adaptation. |