Philippe Rahm & Alexandre LabasseHistoire naturelle de l'architecture

“Why does the need to keep our body temperature at 37° C lead to the appearance of architecture? How does a simple granary become the city? How did churches provide coolness in summer in Mediterranean regions? Why were peas the source of cathedrals? Why were decorative arts not just decorative? Why did the fear of bad smells cause huge domes to rise over buildings? How did a sprig of mint bring nature back to the city? Why did the eruption of a volcano invent the modern city? Why did iodine cause the urbanisation of the coast? How did Bündnerfleisch give rise to modern architecture? How did oil make cities grow in the desert? Why did antibiotics make it possible to return to the city? How is CO2 transforming cities and buildings?

Histoire naturelle de l’architecture highlights the natural, physical, biological or climatic causes that have influenced the course of architectural history and caused its figures to emerge, from prehistory to the present day.
Driven by a context of massive and easy access to energy, first coal and then oil, and by medical progress (with the invention of vaccines and antibiotics), political, social and cultural historiography in the 20th century largely ignored the physical, geographical, climatic and bacteriological facts that have decisively shaped architectural and urban forms over the centuries.

Rereading the history of architecture on the basis of these objective, material, real data makes it possible to face the major environmental challenges of our century and to build better, today, in the face of the climate emergency. »