Summer 2023
ZÜri brännt
From July 10 to August 20, 2023, Lechbinska Gallery hosts a happening devoted to new ways of living in changing conditions. The Project boarders between the disciplines of visual arts, architecture, and environmental science.
The selection of the projects is a result of an Open Call initiated as a response to a big interest in our space during Open House 2022. We’ve received 50 international applications. The jury included Andreas Ruby, Director of the Swiss Architecture Museum, and founder of Ruby Press, Anna Puigjaner, founder of MAIO Architects, professor of the architecture of care at the ETH Zurich; Leonid Slonimskiy, Founding Partner of KOSMOS ARCHITECTS, Professor of Design Studio at HEAD Geneva & Julia Lechbinska, art historian and gallerist.
The staging project, the winner of Open Call is Züri Brännt by Charlotte Day. The Opera House Riots of 1980 took place just meters from the gallery's current location. Then, Zürich was burning with a desire for more open cultural space. Now, the world is heating up, and Zürich may burn in ways unanticipated. Charlotte suggests creating a heat refuge installation in Lechbinska Gallery. Heat refuge as an architectural type has become more prevalent in recent years, as urban centers have experienced record-high summer temperatures. Temperatures leave some of the most vulnerable city-dwellers in mortal danger. Heat refuges tend to be hosted by existing urban places. In London last summer, “cool spaces” were found in parks, sports centers, libraries, universities, and even in Tate Britain. Red Cross Austria hosted a cooling center in a municipal district office, and Caritas Vienna opened “climate oases” in parish gardens throughout the city.
A project that runs parallel is Gallery Garden by Emma Kaufmann-La Duc. Emma will create an installation in the art space’s garden, which will become a laboratory of urban gardening in the changing climate conditions. The audience will be welcomed to participate in the workshops by invited speakers and take part in the gardening and harvesting themselves.
Winner of Open Call
Züri brännt1
The Opera House Riots of 1980 took place just meters from Lechbinska Gallery's current location. Then, Zürich was burning with a desire for a more open cultural space. Now, the world is heating up, and Zürich may burn in ways unanticipated. Meanwhile, the desires of 1980 remain alive [even if they are hidden at the moment – and will probably only intensify – as the planet makes our lives worse, culture will have quite a job to do… to serve people in their need…].
There will soon come a time when any non-domestic indoor space may be called to act as a temporary refuge from the heat. A place to sit down, away from direct sunlight, drink water, use the bathroom, regain control of one’s body, and move on.
Heat refuge as an architectural type has become more prevalent in recent years, as urban centers have experienced record-high summer temperatures. Temperatures leave some of the most vulnerable city-dwellers in mortal danger. Heat refuges tend to be hosted by existing urban places. In London last summer, “cool spaces” were found in parks, sports centers, libraries, universities, and even in Tate Britain.2 Red Cross Austria hosted a cooling center in a municipal district office,3 and Caritas Vienna opened “climate oases” in parish gardens throughout the city.4
Some defining criteria for these spaces have been established. They should be open to all members of the public, free of charge; have at least one staff member present, have a sign indicating maximum occupancy; provide access to free drinking water, access to toilets, access to people with disabilities; provide seating, provide air conditioning or an alternative cooling system.5 They are defined by function rather than by form.
Zürich has traditionally been exempt from the kind of temperatures that cause heat refuges to appear in the urban landscape. Lechbinska Gallery cools itself in summer by opening windows. But how long can this privileged situation last?
This project proposes to open Lechbinska Gallery as a heat refuge during the months of July and August 2023.
The art space already fulfills many of the criteria listed above. It is free and open to the public, has at least one staff member on duty, has access to free drinking water (a sink), access to toilets; could easily provide seating (folding chairs), and could easily indicate its maximum occupancy.
The question of cooling is more complex. The art space must always be cool enough to responsibly house works of art; to safeguard their material and cultural value. This means a temperature of between 18 and 28°C depending on season and climate; 18-24°C in temperate climates.6 The temperature recommended by hospitals and nursing homes for safeguarding humans – their biological, social, intellectual, spiritual, and any other kind of value – is 26°C.7
Over 50% of Switzerland’s residential cooling demand proceeds from buildings 20 years old or fewer,8 despite the fact that these buildings account for only 17% of the Swiss building stock.9 The reasons for this are architectural: qualities like “higher window-to-wall ratios, higher thermal insulation and increase in airtightness”,10 not shared by older buildings. On the contrary, many “older” buildings (pre-1945, in the studies cited) are intrinsically suited to passive cooling. The building that houses L-Art Space was built in 1896, and benefits from the thermal mass of 60-80cm solid masonry walls, thickest at ground level. The space has the potential to be cross-ventilated, as long as the front and back doors are both open. The space is not made overly vulnerable by windows, as several have been walled over, and those remaining in the street-facing (northwest-facing) part of the gallery are spared the worst of the summer sun.
These are parallel facts, from which parallel conclusions emerge. First, a space accommodated to the needs of art can also accommodate itself to the needs of humans. Second, the older building stock of a city can be put to work in service of newer climatic needs. If somewhere a fan must be plugged in (because we are no longer in 1896), so be it. The point is the meeting, which is not necessarily a perfect alignment: that an existing space with existing functions, which is simultaneously a historic space with historic assets, come to meet present humans with present needs.
And so, within the scope of this project, the art space temporarily becomes a piece of civic infrastructure. Its accessibility, plumbing, shade, and ventilation temporarily become its most important attributes.
Of course, there may not be a heatwave in Zürich in the summer of 2023. Or, it may not be hot every day. Or, it may be so hot that the idea of a passively cooled cooling center becomes cruelly ironic. The question of need is flexible and elusive.
Notes
1 Title borrowed from the 1981 documentary by Markus Sieber, Werner Schweizer, Marcel Müller, Patricia Loggia, Thomas Krempke et al.
2 <www.londonworld.com/news/weather/london-heatwave-2022-water-refill-stations-public-cooling-spots-hot-weater-3735638%3famp>
3 <https://www.moedling.at/Zuflucht_vor_der_Hitze_beim_Roten_Kreuz_5>
4 <https://www.caritas-wien.at/hilfe-angebote/zusammenleben/pfarrcaritas-und-naechstenhilfe/aktiv-in-den-pfarren/klimaoase>
5 Criteria adapted from <https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/criteria_for_cool_spaces_in_london_summer_2022.pdf>
6 According to the Australian Heritage Collections Council <http://manual.museum.wa.gov.au/conservation-and-care-collections-2017/preventive-conservation-agents-decay/relative-humidity-and>
7 Op. cit.
8 Silva, Ricardo, et. al. “Opportunities for passive cooling to mitigate the impact of climate change in Switzerland”, Building and Environment 208 (2022): p. 10
9 https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/en/home/statistics/construction-housing/buildings.html#:~:text=Buildings%20in%20Switzerland&text=At%20the%20end%20of%202021,%2C%20Vaud%2C%20Aargau%20and%20St.
10 Silva, p. 14
Some defining criteria for these spaces have been established. They should be open to all members of the public, free of charge; have at least one staff member present, have a sign indicating maximum occupancy; provide access to free drinking water, access to toilets, access to people with disabilities; provide seating, provide air conditioning or an alternative cooling system.5 They are defined by function rather than by form.
Zürich has traditionally been exempt from the kind of temperatures that cause heat refuges to appear in the urban landscape. Lechbinska Gallery cools itself in summer by opening windows. But how long can this privileged situation last?
This project proposes to open Lechbinska Gallery as a heat refuge during the months of July and August 2023.
The art space already fulfills many of the criteria listed above. It is free and open to the public, has at least one staff member on duty, has access to free drinking water (a sink), access to toilets; could easily provide seating (folding chairs), and could easily indicate its maximum occupancy.
The question of cooling is more complex. The art space must always be cool enough to responsibly house works of art; to safeguard their material and cultural value. This means a temperature of between 18 and 28°C depending on season and climate; 18-24°C in temperate climates.6 The temperature recommended by hospitals and nursing homes for safeguarding humans – their biological, social, intellectual, spiritual, and any other kind of value – is 26°C.7
Over 50% of Switzerland’s residential cooling demand proceeds from buildings 20 years old or fewer,8 despite the fact that these buildings account for only 17% of the Swiss building stock.9 The reasons for this are architectural: qualities like “higher window-to-wall ratios, higher thermal insulation and increase in airtightness”,10 not shared by older buildings. On the contrary, many “older” buildings (pre-1945, in the studies cited) are intrinsically suited to passive cooling. The building that houses L-Art Space was built in 1896, and benefits from the thermal mass of 60-80cm solid masonry walls, thickest at ground level. The space has the potential to be cross-ventilated, as long as the front and back doors are both open. The space is not made overly vulnerable by windows, as several have been walled over, and those remaining in the street-facing (northwest-facing) part of the gallery are spared the worst of the summer sun.
These are parallel facts, from which parallel conclusions emerge. First, a space accommodated to the needs of art can also accommodate itself to the needs of humans. Second, the older building stock of a city can be put to work in service of newer climatic needs. If somewhere a fan must be plugged in (because we are no longer in 1896), so be it. The point is the meeting, which is not necessarily a perfect alignment: that an existing space with existing functions, which is simultaneously a historic space with historic assets, come to meet present humans with present needs.
And so, within the scope of this project, the art space temporarily becomes a piece of civic infrastructure. Its accessibility, plumbing, shade, and ventilation temporarily become its most important attributes.
Of course, there may not be a heatwave in Zürich in the summer of 2023. Or, it may not be hot every day. Or, it may be so hot that the idea of a passively cooled cooling center becomes cruelly ironic. The question of need is flexible and elusive.
Notes
1 Title borrowed from the 1981 documentary by Markus Sieber, Werner Schweizer, Marcel Müller, Patricia Loggia, Thomas Krempke et al.
2 <www.londonworld.com/news/weather/london-heatwave-2022-water-refill-stations-public-cooling-spots-hot-weater-3735638%3famp>
3 <https://www.moedling.at/Zuflucht_vor_der_Hitze_beim_Roten_Kreuz_5>
4 <https://www.caritas-wien.at/hilfe-angebote/zusammenleben/pfarrcaritas-und-naechstenhilfe/aktiv-in-den-pfarren/klimaoase>
5 Criteria adapted from <https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/criteria_for_cool_spaces_in_london_summer_2022.pdf>
6 According to the Australian Heritage Collections Council <http://manual.museum.wa.gov.au/conservation-and-care-collections-2017/preventive-conservation-agents-decay/relative-humidity-and>
7 Op. cit.
8 Silva, Ricardo, et. al. “Opportunities for passive cooling to mitigate the impact of climate change in Switzerland”, Building and Environment 208 (2022): p. 10
9 https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/en/home/statistics/construction-housing/buildings.html#:~:text=Buildings%20in%20Switzerland&text=At%20the%20end%20of%202021,%2C%20Vaud%2C%20Aargau%20and%20St.
10 Silva, p. 14
PERSONS BEHIND THE PROJECT
Züri brännt
Züri brännt
Charlotte Day
Charlotte Day (b. 1994, Sydney) is an architect. She received her first education in English literature and Russian from the University of Oxford, was a visiting student at Saint Petersburg State Theatre Arts Academy, and is now pursuing her Master in Architecture at Harvard University Graduate School of Design.
Charlotte began her professional life as an intern with the Wooster Group in New York, before practicing independently as a theatre director for some years. Currently, her work is concerned with the architecture of mental space and the mental space of architecture.
Full bio.
Charlotte began her professional life as an intern with the Wooster Group in New York, before practicing independently as a theatre director for some years. Currently, her work is concerned with the architecture of mental space and the mental space of architecture.
Full bio.
L-art space gardens
L-art space gardens
Emma Kaufmann-LaDuc
Emma Kaufmann LaDuc (US) is an architect and landscape architect based in Zurich. She graduated from the Institute of Architecture / TU Vienna, continuing her studies in landscape at the Department of Architecture / ETH Zurich. Parallel to this, she was research assistant at Gebaeudelehre und Entwerfen / TU Vienna and subsequently at the Institute for Landscape and Urban Studies / ETH Zurich.
Emma teaches an experimental unit on landscape at the Architectural Association Summer School in London and is a member of the collective La Rivoluzione delle Seppie. She works within urban and rural territories to understand their complexities, thinking through living systems and acting through collaborative interventions.
Full bio.
Emma teaches an experimental unit on landscape at the Architectural Association Summer School in London and is a member of the collective La Rivoluzione delle Seppie. She works within urban and rural territories to understand their complexities, thinking through living systems and acting through collaborative interventions.
Full bio.