22 Tim Winter
In response to such trends, both countries have come to the fore as leaders in
developing initiatives and forms of engineering and architecture designed to curb
the reliance on energy-intensive methods of cooling. But while recent years have
seen a number of “tropical skyscrapers” commissioned by high-profile architects
and companies such as Ken Yeang and WOHA Architects, wider forces are at play
in both countries serving to polarize how indoor and outdoor spaces are valued,
discussed, perceived, and even marketed as spaces of comfort, risk, or security.
The unwanted externalities of fast-paced urban growth and land clearance, and
most notably airborne pollution, together with fears in the region concerning
transmittable diseases, are among the vectors shaping how the indoors is framed
as a safer, more sterile environment. As Figure 2.2 illustrates, it is an anxiety that
is now both reflected and produced in the marketing campaigns of companies
dealing with indoor air management products, in this case Samsung. It is in
such devices that we begin to see some wider trends in how ideas, debates, and
assumptions about indoor comfort and the governance of air have been framed
in recent years in Asia. As we shall see, it is a space dominated by technology
and engineering and, as such, hidden away from public view and scrutiny. And
as the example of TripAdvisor indicates, the topic of air and air conditioning too
often lies beyond debates about sustainable practice or the ethics of sustainable
consumption. Accordingly, I would suggest that the lack of public awareness
about air conditioning and its alternatives represents a significant obstacle in the
development of a broad based critical debate about the future of architecture and
urban development in the region.
Figure 2.1Thermal Modernity, Singapore
Photo by Tim Winter