Sealed Climates
Mapping the Ecological Impact of the Western European Thermal Modernity

Project by

Jean Souviron
Early-Career Fellow 2024–2025

Sealants, waterproofing membranes, vapor and rain barriers, insulation materials, and insulating glass units have become ubiquitous in our buildings over the course of the 20^th century. They condition and express the relationship between our societies and their environment, and reflect the development of a Western thermal modernity based on the construction of increasingly sealed indoor climates. As a result, new definitions of comfort and performance have been established, which now frame EU environmental policy and renovation strategy. However, the products most commonly marketed today to insulate our buildings require the extraction of raw materials transported and transformed through globalized industrial processes that are heavily dependent on fossil fuels and ecologically unequal exchanges. This project aims to provide policy makers, researchers, and civil society with a better understanding of the ecological impact of insulating Western European architecture. It will assess, historicize, and map the material and energy flows associated with the production, use, and obsolescence of these products to examine how they have impacted people and ecosystems in Europe and beyond.