ABSTRACT
For the contemporary architect, the appearance of condensation on building surfaces is a nightmare. A direct result of the modern dream of total control over interior climate, condensation is the consequence of an engineered environment gone wrong. This wasn’t always the case. In the pre-modern mind, condensation was not simply the conversion of vapor or gas into its liquid state. Rather, it was a key indicator of the hidden world of material movements and interaction. The ceiling surface was par excellence the place where the cyclical condition of the rising and falling of water vapor could embody the cosmic significance of matter. This understanding was slowly replaced throughout the early modern period with the notion of condensation as simply the rendering of water vapor in its liquid state. In this chapter, we examine several ingenious cases where architects proffer inventions for supporting and presencing saturated air and show that the nightmare of contemporary architecture could be conceived instead as a wondrous act.
