"Winner of the inaugural Architecture Book of the Year Award, Technical Category"
"A rare opportunity to look closer at modernists environmental ethics and not just their aesthetics and a timely reference for our worsening climate crisis."---Diana Budds, Curbed
"The premise of [Modern Architecture and Climate] is this: The battle for the supremacy of air conditioning above all other solutions for climate mitigation was, in fact, a battle . . . [it] spanned continents, political ideologies, and architectural discoursesWhat makes Barbers book so interesting is not only the meticulous documentation ofclimate-control alternatives and their practitioners, but the tension between their goals and their underlying ideologies. . . . The lesson from Barbers book is not to replicate the conditions that begat yesterdays missed opportunities, but to change them for the better."---Kate Wagner, The Architects Newspaper
"Its easy to think of Modernism as inseparable from air conditioning, simply because we are surrounded by so much of it that is. A valuable reminder that this wasnt always the case is provided in Daniel A. Barbers Modern Architecture and Climate: Design Before Air Conditioning, which outlines the story of the febrile, flexible, and often-forgotten early experiments in climate control."---Anthony Paletta, Metropolis
"[Modern Architecture and Climate] offers . . . the most comprehensive and concise corrective to the reigning histories of Modernism that have tended to exclude, or at least consider only superficially, environmental context."---Russell Fortmeyer, Architectural Record
"[An] erudite workHeavily illustrated and deeply researched. . . . Academics, urban planners, and environmental designers will most appreciate this thought-provoking and detailed volume." * Publishers Weekly *
"Modern Architecture and Climate is a fresh and original history that chronicles the intense research undertaken by designers to adapt modernist architecture to various climate conditions, as modernisms political and aesthetic influence reached across the globe. . . . Barbers work is a welcome addition to the history of architectural modernism, and is particularly pertinent in our current circumstances. It demonstrates the profound impact that our expectations of a uniform interior have had on the planet we share. But its examples also offer an inspiring model for challenging assumptions about the role of building form in mitigating climate extremes."---Javier Zeller, Canadian Architect
"Barber's book is not simply a technological history, but ultimately also an impassioned lament for our collective carbon footprint as planetary temperatures increaseArchitects, engineers, and students interested in systematic and environmentally friendly approaches to indoor cooling will find inspiration in Modern Architecture and Climate.In a time of an airborne pandemic, Modern Architecture and Climate, with its rigorous examination of open interiors, airflow, and ventilation, will serve well those readers who have the grit to absorb the author's intensive approach and sobering message."---Paul Glassman, ARLIS/NA Reviews
"[Daniel] Barbers thorough account, written in the distanced expert voice of a historian, shines when it dispels established beliefs . . . [Modern Architecture and Climate] does an excellent job of documenting the subjects it cover."---Ross Wienert, Rice Design Alliance
"[An] exhaustively researched book . . . [in Modern Architecture and Climate] Barber makes a well-supported argument that through the propagation of this very specific set of cultural and Modern Architecture and Climate comfort ideals, modern architecture became an instrument for globalization, economic development, and postwar colonialism."---Kristin Schuster, Texas Architect Magazine
"Ive waited years for a book like this What Modern Architecture and Climate suggests is an alternative reckoning with modernisms legacyits ideas, strategies, and practitioners. With the urgency of our global climate crisis, many of these concerns are once again centralBarbers book points us in the right direction." * Arris *
"Daniel Barber's historical narrative is fascinating and holds many useful lessons for a contemporary audience."---Brian Ford, The Plan Journal
"Richly illustrated. . . . For the academic and the architect, this valuable volume encourages more careful consideration of climatic modernism as both history and limit. It is thought-provoking, giving us pause to consider the passionate attempts that architects have made to mediate their environment. The tales gathered here trace a lineage that situates design within the planetary. . . . Barbers constant and learned skepticism warns us to maintain an informed but critical distance from the pursuit of immediate comfort."---Hannah Le Roux, Journal for the Society of Architectural Historians
"A thoroughly researched and superbly illustrated discussion of some of the most important connections between architecture and technology in the twentieth century, essential reading for anyone interested in the discourse around modern architecture in the light of current challenges."---Florian Urban, Architectural History
"[A] deeply researched and richly illustrated volume. . . . [Modern Architecture and Climate] takes the material mediation of local climate through architecture as its path and sheds light on some of the (built and written) genealogies of questions pertaining to thermal comfort, solar heating, and passive cooling."---Anna-Maria Meister, Isis: A Journal of the History of Science Society
"This is a vitally important work of historical scholarship. . . . a landmark study."---Marcus Colla, German History
"Modern Architecture and Climate is theoretically and visually rich, with many wonderful full-page illustrations that allow the reader to pick apart the layouts and diagrams of many mid-century publications and buildings. It is also an optimistic book, one that shows that the homogenous airconditioned interior wasnt an inevitability, and still need not be."---Daniel J. Ryan, Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Review
