Abstract:

This article offers an analysis of the development of air conditioning in India in the mid-twentieth century, from the vantage point of one of its largest trading firms, the Swiss merchant house of Volkart Brothers. It reveals that the marketing strategies and air conditioning installations by the firm extended and intensified exclusionary colonial notions about race, climate and civilization. The article analyzes the practice of "retro-fit"—retroactive installation of air conditioning in existing buildings in India, and "future-fit"—design of new buildings for later accommodation of air conditioning, within the context of the inequitable sociocultural framing mentioned above. The analysis is supported by a juxtaposition of the firm's external and in-house literature, which allows a rare insight into publicly advertised and privately-held notions about air conditioning. Such an investigation is deeply instructive in understanding subsequent and current architectural approaches to thermal comfort, not only in India but at a broader global level, where alternative transcultural approaches are receiving increased attention in the Anthropocene era.

摘要：

本文从印度最大的贸易公司之一——Volkart Brothers 的瑞士商行的角度分析了 20 世纪中叶印度空调的发展。它揭示了该公司的营销策略和空调装置扩展和强化了关于种族、气候和文明的排他性殖民观念。文章分析了“改造”的做法——在印度现有建筑物中追溯安装空调，以及“未来适应”——在所提到的不公平的社会文化框架的背景下设计新建筑以供以后安装空调以上。该分析得到了公司外部和内部文献的并列支持，这使得人们可以难得地了解公开宣传和私人持有的关于空调的概念。这样的调查对于理解热舒适的后续和当前建筑方法具有深刻的指导意义，不仅在印度，而且在更广泛的全球层面，在人类世时代，替代的跨文化方法正受到越来越多的关注。