Daniel Barber

"Comfort is integral to our designed interiors and to the causal chain that ties together the systems for heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC), the fuels that feed them, and the carbon emissions that result. But the global carbon sink is already full. As we can no longer emit carbon, we can no longer be air-conditioned in the same way." Daniel A. Barber, "After Comfort" (2019)

Daniel A. Barber is a historian of architecture and environment, with a focus on how architects engaged climate over the last century, and on how historical knowledge of architecture, climate, and energy can impact the ways that we design, build, and live in houses today.

His most recent book is Modern Architecture and Climate: Design before Air Conditioning (Princeton University Press, 2020), which followed A House in the Sun: Modern Architecture and Solar Energy in the Cold War (Oxford 2016); his article "After Comfort" (Log 2019) has been translated into five languages. 

He is the co-editor of the ongoing series After Comfort: A User's Guide and Accumulation, both on the e-flux architecture online platform. 

In 2023, Prof. Barber received a Guggenheim Fellowship for the project "Thermal Practices." He recently co-directed the film "Climate Portraits" as part of the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam. He is a 2025 recipient of the Fondation Martell's Transition Fellowship. 

Prof. Barber earned his PhD in Architecture (History and Theory) at Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation (2010) and a Master's Degree from Yale University (2005). He has held fellowships at Harvard University, Princeton University, and through the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation; in 2022 Daniel was the inaugural Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Apocalyptic and Post-Apocalyptic Studies at Universiteit Heidelberg.

Daniel was recently Head of School Architecture at the University of Technology Sydney; he has also taught at the University of Pennsylvania School of Design, Oberlin College, Auckland University, and has lectured at design schools and museums globally. 

Prof. Barber teaches courses in the Environmental History of Architecture, exploring how ideas about nature and technology have played a role in shaping architectural discussions and the built environment. 

He also teaches and coordinates studio courses that consider how these historical forces resonate with today's social challenges.