Air-Conditioning in Modern American Architecture, 1890–1970

Joseph Siry's excellent new book makes a convincing case for the inclusion of technology and the conditions of architectural production in our approach to architectural history. It provides a major new contribution to our understanding of the field. -Dietrich C. Neumann, editor of The Structure of Light : Richard Kelly and the Illumination of Modern Architecture Siry has written an interesting and necessary text. By carefully examining a number of familiar buildings and architects, he reveals that the role of HVAC systems was essential to design debates in American modernism. Drawing on a wealth of archival material, the book advances a novel and refreshing account of the technological and social issues that inform architectural developments. -Daniel A. Barber, author of Modern Architecture and Climate: Design Before Air Conditioning This reader came away with a deep understanding of the details of each building discussed-design as well as materials and engineering-and how passive cooling, fans, air ducts, and even mechanical floors (for example) influenced and altered the 'art' of building design. . . . This is an excellent complement to the modern architecture literature. -L. B. Allsopp, Choice Although many of the book's buildings have already been covered in a few other historical accounts, it is the first time that they are discussed in a single in-depth and comprehensive narrative. Besides the focus on the aesthetics of integration and collaborative authorship typical of an internalist approach, the chapters also begin to foreground fascinating historical connections between air-conditioning and the various spaces of production and consumption in a capitalist economy, as well as the attendant concerns with comfort, health, welfare, productivity, and profit. -Jiat-Hwee Chang, Technology and Culture