Hot Air

Hot Air is a monograph that situates and defines the hot air of the urban equator through the architecture and creative practice of Erik L’Heureux and the Office of Equatorial Intelligence. By critically evaluating intersections of architecture, the tropics, the equator, urbanisation, colonialism, mechanical cooling, and fossil fuel dependency, L’Heureux’s built work offers decarbonisation, passive comfort, and contextual case studies appropriate for the urban equator. The architectural projects are also the outcome of deeply personal and self-reflective thinking, having lived on the equator for 20 years. The book offers insights into the practice of architecture on the equator in an age of climate calamity. Themes embedded in a series of architectural projects engender writings on tropical representation, postcolonialism, monoliths, jungles, carbon, and others from diverse contributors. Each contributor offers a divergent inquiry and critical reflection on Hot Air, examining the architectural work through different cultural and geographical contexts while situating the work at the equator and in our rapidly warming world.