20160306 (architecture)

Curtainwall

More moderated window exposure

Architects don’t always get it right.

The famous Philip Johnson house

In the woods of New Canaan 

Connecticut is among the worst

When it comes to practical vision

Of future housing. Can you imagine

A Levittown of such homes,

Occupied either by a community

Of exhibitionists or drapes salesmen

Either of which must be willing 

To pay huge amounts for energy

Either to warm or often to cool

Such monsters of energy waste.

The same can be said of Wright’s

Fallingwater in the Bear Run Nature

Reserve of southwestern Pennsylvania

Except that in addition to excessive

Need for energy the house’s roofs

Are almost always leaking one place

Or another. When the question was

Posed to Wright he was reported as

Saying, “If the roof doesn’t leak, 

The architect hasn’t been creative 

Enough.” Well, that may be good

Enough for his multimillion dollar

Clients who have money to spare

To fix such minor problems, but 

For us Joe six-packs and their

Fussy wives that isn’t going to 

Cut it—roof repairs versus a

Vacation in Barbados, for instance.

But such cavalier approaches to

Building efficiencies were common

In the early modern age. Witness

The curtainwall of glass and metal

As in the United Nations building,

The Seagram building—Le Corbusier

And Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

Respectively. Energy was cheaper 

Then and the curtainwall was easily

Accommodated to the steel and 

Concrete of midcentury construction.

What it didn’t do very well though

Was prevent one side of a building

Being too cold in the shade and the

Other side too hot in the sun. Similarly

The activity and warmth of occupants

Were often sufficient to keep them

Warm in winter during the daytime

Use then need heating during the 

Unoccupied nights. But they

Were smooth and sleek and easier

To sell than more costly complex

Exteriors with sufficient insulation.

Now that energy costs are a lead

Factor to be considered the added

Costs are viewed as investments

Rather than expenses. The new 

Problems are that the insulative

Products themselves are not green

Enough. Making the closed-cell

Foams add to the greenhouse effect

So dramatically their production

May not exceed the savings. What

Is needed is an effective insulating

Material which does not have such

Complicating effects. Cellulose from

Recycled newsprint could be an

Answer, so could recycled cotton

Jeans. Truth is reduction of window

Size alone can accomplish as much.

Expect new construction of either

Skyscraper and other commercial

Projects to change radically if we

Can get architects to be properly

Governed by engineering first

And secondly by appearance rather

Than the other way around.

c. J.S.Manista, 2016