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.
Designing Educational Air Conditions
by Sara Grissom.
By designing different types of air conditioning unit, Carrier and other manufacturers targeted distinct markets for comfort cooling, ranging from schools and offices to bedrooms and living rooms.
Air conditions determine a certain level of comfort for us as humans. Whether the outside air conditions, or the inside comfort factor, we are constantly trying to achieve that level of comfort. Our desires for comfort within temperature have naturally adapted with the advancement of technology. As technology advances, we become more dependent on its benefits and features, ultimately raising our expectations. Air conditions have evolved with technology as well as with consumerism, where most interior spaces utilize treated air. Beginning with air conditioning in homes, and expanding to work environments then later to shopping malls and retail stores, air conditioning became of interest in schools to improve learning capabilities and overall education. The focus of providing air conditioning in schools was to further education and provide for more attentiveness by not only the students, but the educators as well. As air conditioning units evolved with technology, classrooms adapted their space to provide the most efficient use of the units in the learning environment. Schools and places of education are just as dependent on air conditioning as office buildings or homes; the efforts for furthering education start in the classrooms.
An ad by the Trane Company, for instance, shows us “a climate for learning” that illustrates a classroom with smiling, attentive children that are focused on the equally as happy teacher, with an air conditioning unit built in to the cabinets by the window as a wall unit. Here, happiness and comfort is shown to affect the students’ attentiveness as well as the teachers comfort in order to effectively educate her class. Therefore, air conditioning is directly related to education and the ability to learn in a comfortable environment.
As the learning environment evolves with the addition of air conditioned classrooms, the design of the air conditioning units also advances with the changing spaces for learning. Air conditioning units become a piece of furniture within the household as Harold Vandoren’s 1954 sketch of a window unit that first appeared in homes describes the dimensions and placement of the unit. The window unit in homes is one of the first uses of the air conditioner as a piece of furniture. The design of the window unit is efficient in saving space and strategically designed to not interrupt the living spaces in homes. Space saving designs of air conditioning units developed with the advancing technology in the 1950’s where air conditioning became a desirable aspect of living and a more attainable feature to the common persons.
Air conditioning units as furniture were further developed into concealed pieces as cabinets and wall units. As illustrated in Carrier’s Commercial Weathermaker pamphlet “For Larger Stores and Concealed Installations”, the air conditioning unit design is advertised as a piece of furniture that can be concealed. The undesirable look of a bulky air conditioning unit was not only taking up floor space, but also interrupting the sleek look of stores and office buildings. The idea of these concealed air conditioning units evolved into wall units that were used in schools, homes, hotels, and office buildings.
Advertisement for a better lifestyle due to air conditioning unit. This ad entices the reader with a better lifestyle, and the ease of obtaining this better lifestyle by purchasing this pre-packaged, mass-made unit.
This final page of the brochure adds that the wall units also come with matching accessories to better blend with the new designs of the air conditioning units. Once again, the wall unit in classrooms is represented as a but a pieces of furniture that can now come with accessories to be more visually appealing and multifunctional.
The image on the left again shows an attentive classroom full of happy students. His is assumed to be because of the comfortable, new air condoning in schools. Note that the units are blended into the wall with bookshelves in between to highlight the new units as pieces of furniture. The diagrams on the right describe how the ventilation systems work and provides for a cooler, more comfortable environment.
This illustrates how the new design of the wall units can provide for more space in the classroom.
Title page advertising the ideal classroom environment with attentive students and a happy teacher due to the ideal comfort temperature.
The magazine article describes the benefits of the air conditioning unit in classrooms. The elevation at the bottom of the article is again showing how the unit can be displayed as piece of furniture that is built in to the wall and serves as multipurpose.
The diagram at the bottom of the page is a section where the placement of conditioning units is embedded into the wall, underneath the window. This describes the air conditioning units as an article of furniture that relates to the uses of the classroom.
The heating and cooling of the classrooms of today. This brochure highlights the ideas of the futuristic designs of the wall unit air conditioners for classrooms. These new designs optimize the most space and are flexible in uses; wether as a shelf, a cubby, or a cupboard.
This sheet also describes the wall ventilation system for classrooms, but also provides with the dimensions to optimize space.
This sheet highlights the major features of a wall air conditioning unit that is fit for a classroom. The wall units become popular in the 60s and provide for the most efficient ventilation results.
Data sheets that describe the function and uses of wall heating units in a classroom. This idea of conditioning units as a piece of furniture multiply the usage of space as they are multifunctional. This shows how the different units fit together to idealize maximum space for learning.
Diagrams of how the ventilation system works as window wall units. These illustrations describe the movement of air through the system and how they are benefiting the classroom workspace.
Air conditioning units as a wall unit that also acts a bookshelf to maximize efficiency of classroom space. These examples of units are advertised as space saving and efficient as well as low cost for the classrooms.
Title page for a brochure that advertises the benefits of air conditioning in classrooms. Just the photo on the front speaks one thousand words as the children are all attentive and smiling. This cover photo highlights how the children can benefit from a better education because the classroom is more comfortable due to the addition of air conditioning.
This hand drawn sketch is another version of the type of styles offered for window air conditioning units.
This hand drawn sketch of a window unit shows the air conditioning as a piece of furniture. This then plays a later role in schools where the air ventilating units became a piece of furniture with multiple functions.
This continuation of the same brochure pulls the audience in with the word “Spring”. Spring is the ideal time of the year, weather wise, and this ad touches upon the comfort of Spring-time air. Again, this is advertising a more comfortable lifestyle.
The cartoon strip at the bottom of the brochure is highlighting the benefits of having an air conditioning unit in your home by changing your lifestyle. The ad is geared toward the working class where their lives would be more “fun” if they had air conditioning in their homes due to the comfort factor.
Air conditioning means more business for you. This ad is geared towards shop owners to persuade them to purchase air conditioning units for their shops as to lure in customer with their comfortable shopping environment. This brochure highlights the different kinds of businesses that air conditioning will affect to appeal to a larger clientele.
Brochure stating the benefits of this air conditioning unit for stores. Air conditioning in stores is ideal as to keep the shopper more comfortable and more willing to buy products. This ad is geared toward store owners who own larger stores and can conceal the large air conditioning unit.
For image credits and captions, please see the associated spreadsheet.