Lacaton & Vassal

It's Nice Today : on climate, comfort and pleasure

Lacaton, Anne (ed.)
Vassal, Jean-Philippe (ed.)

Lacaton & Vassal are the architects who brought greenhouses from the realm of agriculture into architecture. This book tells the story of their relentless exploration of such structures as a tool for a more fluid transition between indoors and outdoors.
In a career spanning more than three decades, Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal have completed more than 20 projects—both conversions and new constructions—that incorporate greenhouses and winter gardens: single-family homes, apartment complexes, cultural and commercial structures, and large scale urban developments. They have all demonstrated the efficiency of winter gardens as thermal buffers, yet because standard calculation models weren’t applicable to such designs, it was difficult to quantify their insulating effect. To better understand the positive impact of this technology, Lacaton & Vassal teamed up with environmental design consultancy Atmos Lab to make detailed, long-term measurements at four of their projects comparing their thermal performance under different conditions. This book presents the methodology and results of that endeavour, providing scientific proof that winter gardens and greenhouses can act as efficient thermal buffers, reducing heating and cooling costs while providing users with a generous space to enjoy sun, natural light, and views.