Institution Building: Daniel Barber in conversation with Nikolaus Hirsch

Architectural historian Daniel Barber, currently a fellow at the Käte Hamburger Centre for Apocalyptic and Post Apocalyptic Studies in Heidelberg, and CIVA´s artistic director Nikolaus Hirsch speak about the role of architecture in the current climate crisis. The call for systemic change becomes increasingly loud. Architects and landscape designers alike seem to shift away from the object focus of starchitecture, giving way to a more integral practice and, eventually, a new aesthetics.

Daniel Barber is an associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and currently researches as a fellow at the Käte Hamburger Centre for Apocalyptic and Post Apocalyptic Studies at the Universität Heidelberg. His books include A House in the Sun: Modern Architecture and Solar Energy in the Cold War (Oxford University Press 2016) and Modern Architecture and Climate: Design before Air Conditioning (Princeton University Press 2020) explore how leading architects of the twentieth century incorporated climate-mediating strategies into their designs, and show how climate adaptability was essential to the development of modern architecture.