This week, the building comes forth as a warm space in a cold environment. We will travel to some of the earliest known buildings, described in the chapter ‘Life with Less Energy’ from Barnabas Calder’s Architecture: from Prehistory to Climate Emergency, and read some short stories about ice and cold from Alexander Kluge.

"Looking like a ghost, he could be seen below the ice, his nose pressed closely against its underside in order to secure the few deciliters of oxygen available at the interface.

'One can set out for every arbitrary point on earth, even inhospitable ones,' the artiste said after his rescue, 'by tracing a spiral outward from the center of one's own being.'"
- Kluge, Alexander. ‘Straw in the Ice: Stories’. Grey Room, no. 53 (2013): 89–108. MIT Press.

Reading Environments is a reading group open to all, for reading, listening and thinking together. Hosted by Tim Corballis (Science in Society), Su Ballard (Art History), Bonnie Etherington, and Adam Grener (English Literatures and Creative Communication), Reading Environments brings together academics, students and interested members of the public to delve into and discuss work in – and adjacent to – the Environmental Humanities, helping us navigate the changing environmental contexts of the planet.

The Reading Environments series continues on three Thursdays to accompany The buildings notice me, selected by Tim Corballis senior lecturer in the School of Science in Society, Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington. The readings complement the exhibition’s focus on architecture, engaging with space, ambience and enclosure within buildings, gesturing inwards towards human bodies and outwards towards the cosmos. The three topics within the Envelope theme will respond to the exhibition as a whole: each session will begin with a brief walking introduction from the foyer to the Lower Chartwell Gallery, touching briefly on works that resonate with the readings. We will make an effort to include anyone with mobility issues in the walk.