Philip Simai, philosopher of green architecture. “It’s getting harder and harder to think of a home as a shelter”

Madame Figaro. – Why do you draw a parallel between food and housing issues?
Philip Simai. – A few years ago, concerned citizens started asking questions about their food: the use of GMOs, the use of pesticides, production methods and the geographical proximity of crops… Today we are witnessing the same kind of questions about housing; do we still live in the city or in favor of the countryside? What about second homes, which are becoming increasingly popular? How to better insulate your home? The choice of ecological and local materials is often a point of division, because they cost more in production, in labor, but they are part of another logic that includes the work of French companies, finding products with bio-sources, guaranteeing good working conditions. This is a social project. The living space, including the spouses, is the place of awareness of all these problems. The apartment has become a battlefield for ecological problems.

Is living ideal… constrained by spending?
Environmental commitments are often hindered by the cost of materials. A local wood window costs more than a PVC window, even if it comes from China. But that’s without taking into account the impact of oil activity, low-paid work and wasted kerosene. When the products are quality and the sites work well, with decently paid companies, it’s worth more to the individual, but less to society. We are constantly torn apart by altruism and selfish calculation. I believe in the logic of proxemics. ecological bifurcation first passes through itself before spreading to others.

How to get better information?
Who is aware of the dangers of solvents or volatile organic compounds in paint and furniture in their homes? Who knows where the toxic waste storage areas are? In general, it is the slums, where the working classes and ethnic minorities live, that are the most exposed. But it’s also where awareness is strongest. When in 2014, residents of the city of Flint, Michigan, discovered that they were contaminated with lead, ecology ceased to be an abstraction for them. They are fighting for their lives. It is these civil movements that really move the lines.

Is our home still a shelter?
In the 1980s, when society was already ultra-liberal, there was a lot of talk about the cocoon. We took shelter at home, as if to protect ourselves from the violence of the social world. It is becoming more and more difficult to consider the house as a shelter. The outside world is constantly knocking on the doors of our house, the objects themselves have become questionable: they have social, human and ecological value.

Does the issue of gender enter the domestic space?
Feminists have politicized the home, that’s great. In the same logic of proxemics, we see how what happens inside the home (exchange of tasks, spaces, one’s room, etc.) becomes the starting point for a more global reflection. Housing is a space to renegotiate to think about how we want to live together.

When the products are quality and the sites work well, with decently paid companies, it’s worth more to the individual, but less to society.

Philip Simai

What is a sustainable construction site?
People put a lot of themselves into construction sites. Today, choosing an ecological approach is an attractive choice. But these are concrete utopias. In a terrifying world, people find in eco-construction different means of fitting into space and time. As a way to find your rightful place.