ABSTRACT
Thermal standards shape the way cities are built and climatically experienced. By establishing clear boundaries between the interiors and exteriors of buildings, for instance, this normalization creates ever more homogeneous global thermal environments, with little care for local specificities. However, this does not appear to simply be a tension between local and global but rather what the place of experts is regarding the definition of norms. Taking Santiago de Chile as a case, I analyze the deviations from so-called objective, rationally defined codes, to those transformed by architectural, socio-cultural or historical contingencies. Case studies on modernist housing projects and the LEED certification scheme serve to reinforce this argument, nuancing the apparent universality of thermal standards. They then question the evolving role of the architect in design in general, and in city climates in particular. This is expected to return insights into navigating between reason and experience in thermal governance and climate control.
