The ideal air conditioned environment

Today I’m writing about ‘the ideal air conditioned environment’.

This theme was inspired by my travel experiences in Spain, when I travelled around staying in Madrid, Toledo, Granada and Barcelona, and visited cathedrals in each city.

Entering cathedrals I usually noticed how cold it was. Outside short sleeves were enough, but in the cathedral it felt cold even with a coat on. Of course an air conditioner would not be effective. That’s down to the large heat capacity. The heat capacity of 500kcal/m3 K is based on the stone from which cathedrals a mainly constructed of, about twice that of timber or plaster board. In other words, stone is 2 times more difficult to heat up. Additionally, I think the walls are about 1m thick so the heat capacity is really beyond comparison to typical Japanese buildings.

I wondered whether these cathedrals were the “ideal air conditioned space”. It seems a little strange to talk of an air conditioned space with no air conditioners but what I really mean is a temperature controlled space without air-conditioning. Of course the climate of Spain and the small number of openings or windows has an impact, however, the “coldness” which gives the Cathedral its air of solemnity is dependent on this heat capacity.

I also visited the Sagrada Família which is also in Spain, but inside I didn’t experience the same atmosphere as within the other cathedrals. I didn’t feel the same kind of “coldness”. The reason, I think, being the number of openings in the building and the number of people inside. Without the cold atmosphere, there is still an overwhelming feeling of solemnity, which is perhaps one of the reasons why the Sagrada Família attracts attention from all over the world.Without the usual coldness found in other cathedrals, perhaps the Sagrada Família was, for Gaudi, an ideal air conditioned space in which he was aiming at harmonisation with nature.