Upstate Modern MAKING METROPOLITAN AMERICA ALONG THE ERIE CANAL

Upstate Modern is a series of courses and public programs at Syracuse University examining the urban history of Upstate New York through transdisciplinary research that draws on archives, buildings, landscapes, and communities.

“Nothing More Modern”: Air Conditioning the International Style

by Ana Montano.

“It was therefore a very practical conservatism that recognized that the luxury of today becomes the necessity of tomorrow. “ Owners and Managers measure the success of their air conditioning system through not its quality or cost, but by its ability to increase the rent roll. Their primary concern with the system is not just in attracting tenants but maintaining them satisfied and enthusiastic about it. Not only did they provide the tenants with the benefits of air conditioned spaces and their investment values, but by informing the world of their air conditioning system by setting up a thermometer displaying and comparing the indoor and outdoor temperatures. Instead of making money by having expenses reduced, which had very little to offer tenants that was better or different that could be secured in other first class buildings, the decision to increase expenses in order to increase income through the implementation of the air conditioning system.

“It was therefore a very practical conservatism that recognized that the luxury of today becomes the necessity of tomorrow.”

The new building technology of the industrial era, the invention of the elevator and the structural steel framework, made possible the rise of skyscrapers, particularly in central business districts within growing cities. The skyscraper came to symbolize the growing economy and efficiency in their usage, by large corporations, as processing centers. These factors along with   rise in the urban population and the continual expansion of the American city created a building boom for   skyscrapers, whose typology was changed by the invention and introduction of air conditioning as part of its mechanical system.

Primarily associated with industries and their factories, air conditioning saw a prospect client in the office building, whose conditioning of people as opposed to materials and machines expressed concern for the comfort of the workers just as much as their efficiency. These information-­‐processing centers became the spaces for the standardization of work, where “efficiency” became the feature of the office building typology and air conditioning its provider. I would hypothesize that the   correlation between the conditioning of workers as machines and building form in its spatial organization is their construction of the workplace as an environment, mechanized through air conditioning.

The system in a skyscraper was not seen as a utility, like electricity, due to companies like Carrier who sold their system’s implementation within office buildings as an investment. It then became associated with the design of the building, not aesthetically, but through new considerations it presented architects, owners, managers, and engineers. It not only allowed the architect to abandon passive solar heating and cooling design approaches in search for new forms, but created new issues to consider due to its consumption of valuable floor space and its cost as a budget expense not being used for the actual design of the building. New elements that arose that became an integral part of    the system were mechanical rooms, ductwork, machines, radiators, grills, all which replaced previous concerns over cross ventilation and natural daylight, that guided the building typology in its early years.

Office managers and owners feared their buildings obsolesce due to the skyscraper construction  boom that made the competition for tenants rely increasingly on central city locations and low rental prices. Carrier sought solutions by presenting the benefits of investing in air conditioning to attract and keep tenants. The concurrent demands of air conditioning in office buildings and air conditioning providers induced Carrier to sell this aspect of air conditioning in a manner that became increasingly technical and quantitative. As a manufacturer, it presented itself not only as the first air conditioning company, a point thoroughly emphasized in the promotion of their services, but sought a way to remediate the system’s cost with technical and methodical computations that would ultimately validate not only the company, but the system itself, an its value as profit rather than as an expense.

All the factors that made tall office buildings possible, new building technologies and typologies, along with the business management principles of Taylorism occur simultaneously although never presented from the perspective of manufactured weather. Air conditioning’s presence in these spaces and the rise of the International style in the 1920s and 30s marked the shift in emphasis of environmental passive design to form and the maximization of floor space. The exhibition that coined the term International style was the first architectural exhibition held at the Museum of Modern art. Interestingly enough, this new interest in architecture with the rise of this style, which relied heavily in form, was new, unique and unprecedented. It emerged in part due to the skyscraper, which discarded masonry and mass and instead used the steel frame to express volume allowing air

conditioning and its system to take foreground in the office space. Carrier made its way to the foreground by expressing their system’s ability to control the weather rather than simply cool it and emphasizing its ability to promote efficiency as opposed to simply comfort.

“The aim of Hitchcock and Johnson was to define a style that would encapsulate this modern architecture, doing this by the inclusion of specific architects.” However, I believe the International Style also defined this by the inclusion of air conditioning within its walls. George and William Lescaze’s PSFS Building, built for the Philadelphia Savings Fund Society, was selected by Hitchcock and Johnson for display at the exhibition Modern Architecture – International Exhibition and coincidentally happened to be both the first International style skyscraper in the United States as well as the second high rise in the country to be equipped with air  conditioning. These disperse but interrelated factors revolving around the tall office building are for the first time housed in the same building that became the resultant expression of the relations that made the building the icon it was then and is now. Air conditioning both literally and figurative became the last piece to be placed in the system, and without its presence then, the building may not have achieved its necessary appraisal to attract tenants and prevent its obsolescence.

"By the 1930s’s, the Carrier Corporation had established itself as the leading manufacturer of process cooling. Although air conditioning was relative new, Carrier saw a business prospect in the office buildings of the very factories they were installing their centrifugal chiller. It is in this context that Carrier had to offer specific reasoning behind the installation of air conditioning in the office space. “When you start wondering what to do to keep your building from slipping into high vacancies and lowered rental – think about the many benefits of AIR CONDITIONING BY CARRIER” This advertising angle is promoting Carrier’s product as an investment rather than a commodity. The showcasing of a variety range of buildings that had already had the Carrier Equipment installed can begin to introduce the range of building sizes and shapes that could sustain the technology in its primitive days. These early installations will be comparable to the emergence of new forms allowable because of air conditioning, along with other innovations and developments unforeseen by Carrier. "

“By the 1930s’s, the Carrier Corporation had established itself as the leading manufacturer of process cooling. Although air conditioning was relative new, Carrier saw a business prospect in the office buildings of the very factories they were installing their centrifugal chiller. It is in this context that Carrier had to offer specific reasoning behind the installation of air conditioning in the office space.
“When you start wondering what to do to keep your building from slipping into high vacancies and lowered rental – think about the many benefits of AIR CONDITIONING BY CARRIER”
This advertising angle is promoting Carrier’s product as an investment rather than a commodity. The showcasing of a variety range of buildings that had already had the Carrier Equipment installed can begin to introduce the range of building sizes and shapes that could sustain the technology in its primitive days. These early installations will be comparable to the emergence of new forms allowable because of air conditioning, along with other innovations and developments unforeseen by Carrier. “

"This pamphlet reduces any excuse for workers to not to produce, which includes illnesses, breaks, noise etc. It sells air conditioning as a built interior environment within an office building that only has room for efficiency and speed. With the rise of tall office buildings as information processing center, efficiency means money. Regardless if these claims are true or not or even necessary to argue for, their manifestation begins to question the managers as well as employees current practices or efficiency forcing them to reevaluate, proving the effectiveness of Carrier’s marketing to creating a room for thought for the implementation of their technology. This pamphlet reduces any excuse for workers to not to produce, which includes illnesses, breaks, noise etc. It sells air conditioning as a built interior environment within an office building that only has room for efficiency and speed. With the rise of tall office buildings as information processing center, efficiency means money. Regardless if these claims are true or not or even necessary to argue for, their manifestation begins to question the managers as well as employees current practices or efficiency forcing them to reevaluate, proving the effectiveness of Carrier’s marketing to creating a room for thought for the implementation of their technology. "

“This pamphlet reduces any excuse for workers to not to produce, which includes illnesses, breaks, noise etc. It sells air conditioning as a built interior environment within an office building that only has room for efficiency and speed. With the rise of tall office buildings as information processing center, efficiency means money.
Regardless if these claims are true or not or even necessary to argue for, their manifestation begins to question the managers as well as employees current practices or efficiency forcing them to reevaluate, proving the effectiveness of Carrier’s marketing to creating a room for thought for the implementation of their technology. This pamphlet reduces any excuse for workers to not to produce, which includes illnesses, breaks, noise etc. It sells air conditioning as a built interior environment within an office building that only has room for efficiency and speed. With the rise of tall office buildings as information processing center, efficiency means money.
Regardless if these claims are true or not or even necessary to argue for, their manifestation begins to question the managers as well as employees current practices or efficiency forcing them to reevaluate, proving the effectiveness of Carrier’s marketing to creating a room for thought for the implementation of their technology. “

"“It is only fair to add, however, that the building is air conditioned throughout which has also been of great assistance tenants.” Air conditioning provided by Carrier was one of the key factors in attracting tenants to office building, not only is the PSFS a high end office building, even its gradeur was not simply enough to attract and keep tenants and as proof this letter confirms the existing claims Carrier had made in seeling their product as an investment."

““It is only fair to add, however, that the building is air conditioned throughout which has also been of great assistance tenants.”
Air conditioning provided by Carrier was one of the key factors in attracting tenants to office building, not only is the PSFS a high end office building, even its gradeur was not simply enough to attract and keep tenants and as proof this letter confirms the existing claims Carrier had made in seeling their product as an investment.”

"“A building thought out exclusively for its tenants; in which architecture, light and air have all been made a first consideration, in which walls obstructing light and air have been omitted and replaced by windows and ventilation” There is a strong importance on the plan of the Philadelphia Savings Fund Society Building, particularly the office spaces in the upper floors intended for tenants. This emphasis is tied with the modernist use of the free plan, using columns, instead of walls to hold the weight of the building. In its claim that walls are seen as obstructers of light and air, are suddenly replaced with columns that allow for more windows. This free plan allowed the installation of the air conditioning system that was a second thought when the building was in construction. There exists an underlying emphasis on the flexibility of elements like light and air, controlled by the tenant occupying the space. Light flow is maximized by the plan of the building, which is controlled by the Venetian blinds installed. Airflow is now controlled through the use of a thermometer in each office space. The flexibility of the office, not solely its use of space but its light and air are seen as a major consideration for tenants renting office spaces."

““A building thought out exclusively for its tenants; in which architecture, light and air have all been made a first consideration, in which walls obstructing light and air have been omitted and replaced by windows and ventilation”
There is a strong importance on the plan of the Philadelphia Savings Fund Society Building, particularly the office spaces in the upper floors intended for tenants. This emphasis is tied with the modernist use of the free plan, using columns, instead of walls to hold the weight of the building. In its claim that walls are seen as obstructers of light and air, are suddenly replaced with columns that allow for more windows.
This free plan allowed the installation of the air conditioning system that was a second thought when the building was in construction. There exists an underlying emphasis on the flexibility of elements like light and air, controlled by the tenant occupying the space. Light flow is maximized by the plan of the building, which is controlled by the Venetian blinds installed. Airflow is now controlled through the use of a thermometer in each office space. The flexibility of the office, not solely its use of space but its light and air are seen as a major consideration for tenants renting office spaces.”

"This pamphlet reduces any excuse for workers to not to produce, which includes illnesses, breaks, noise etc. It sells air conditioning as a built interior environment within an office building that only has room for efficiency and speed. With the rise of tall office buildings as information processing center, efficiency means money. Regardless if these claims are true or not or even necessary to argue for, their manifestation begins to question the managers as well as employees current practices or efficiency forcing them to reevaluate, proving the effectiveness of Carrier’s marketing to creating a room for thought for the implementation of their technology. "

“This pamphlet reduces any excuse for workers to not to produce, which includes illnesses, breaks, noise etc. It sells air conditioning as a built interior environment within an office building that only has room for efficiency and speed. With the rise of tall office buildings as information processing center, efficiency means money.
Regardless if these claims are true or not or even necessary to argue for, their manifestation begins to question the managers as well as employees current practices or efficiency forcing them to reevaluate, proving the effectiveness of Carrier’s marketing to creating a room for thought for the implementation of their technology. “

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

" This article emphasized the “new tool” that the PSFS Building acts as in providing businessmen with “convenient” and “useful” office space. The first two dimensions listed, location and plan deal with the owner’s choice in site for the building, and the organization of the spaces seen in the plan as controlled by the architect. The Third dimension is equipment, where the “manufactured weather” also becomes a significant part of this building to function as a tool. Air conditioning itself could encompass another dimension on its own in which office buildings are viewed, and this arguably is the new tool for the efficiency of the office space, dictated by technology and the engineers behind it rather than solely the architect or the real state. It begun to occupy this dimension and became as important as location and plan, which have always been important in the construction of any building."

” This article emphasized the “new tool” that the PSFS Building acts as in providing businessmen with “convenient” and “useful” office space. The first two dimensions listed, location and plan deal with the owner’s choice in site for the building, and the organization of the spaces seen in the plan as controlled by the architect. The Third dimension is equipment, where the “manufactured weather” also becomes a significant part of this building to function as a tool. Air conditioning itself could encompass another dimension on its own in which office buildings are viewed, and this arguably is the new tool for the efficiency of the office space, dictated by technology and the engineers behind it rather than solely the architect or the real state. It begun to occupy this dimension and became as important as location and plan, which have always been important in the construction of any building.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For image captions and credits, please see the associated spreadsheet.

 

Bibliography

Bailey, George R. “How Air Conditioning Affects Design of Today’s Skyscraper.” Heating, Piping Air Conditioning (1949): 69-­‐71. Print.

Carrier Corporation Records Center.

Chapman, Hal. “The Value of Air Conditioning in Renting Skyscraper Space.” Refrigerating Engineering 3  (1937). Print

C-­‐Lab, . Is This Not a Pipe? Volume #37: ed. New York: Stichting Archis, 2013. 40-­‐53. Web. Feb. 2014.

Larry Ford, Cities and Buildings: Skyscrapers, Skid Rows, and Suburbs (Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994), Ch. 1, “Downtown Buildings,” 10 -­‐ 63

Raymond A. Mohl, The New City: Urban America in the Industrial Age, 1860-­‐1920 (Arlington Heights IL: Harlan Davidson, 1985): Chapters 2 and 3, pp. 27-­‐66.

Schultz, Eric B. 2012. Weathermakers to the World Farmington: Carrier Corporation.

For more images, please visit:

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0BzxPj_7hPUSQNEFvcGdCTHFNOFk&usp=sharing

May 1, 2014 | Filed under AIR CONDITIONS.

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