The Effusivity Pool - Philippe Rahm architectes

The Effusivity Pool is thus a manifestation of a few materials chosen according to their climatic proprieties. But the choice of them is no longer made according to analogue or memorial criteria, but according to energy and climatic criteria. We put in place, according to a highly perceptible gradation, 4 materials according to their intrinsic property of effusivity, whose characteristic is to speed up or to slow down the body heat loss by conduction when the human skin is touching a material. Thus, we establish a progression from the coldest to the warmest, between a woollen floor, a wooden floor, a stone floor and a aluminium floor. The effusivity of wool, i.e. the ability to transmit heat to the environment, is low, which gives an impression of warmness by touching it. The wood will attenuate this slightly. Because the effusivity of the stone is higher, it will retrocede faster the cold to the visitors who will touch it. At the end of the gradation, we will find the aluminium, whose extreme high effusivity coefficient will communicate the coldness to the visitors touching it.

Philippe Rahm is a Swiss architect, principal in the office of “Philippe Rahm architectes”, based in Paris, France. His work, which extends the field of architecture from the physiological to the meteorological, has received an international audience in the context of sustainability. His recent work includes the 70 hectares Central Park in Taichung, Taiwan, the Agora of the French National Radio in Paris, a 2700 m2 exhibition architecture for the Luma Foundation in Arles, France. He was a visiting professor at GSD Harvard University and was exhibiting in 2017 at the Chicago and Seoul Architecture Biennales.

Download press release