What Was Life Like Before Air Conditioning?
JOIE CHEN, CNN ANCHOR: OK, here's some imaginative thinking about covering heat and cool. On days like this, it's hard to imagine summer before the air conditioner. Yeah, did you ever think about that?</s>CHRYSANTHE BROIKOS, ARCHITECTURAL HISTORIAN: Well, there were actually lots of people at the turn of the century who were experimenting, and who were really pioneers with air conditioning. You might call the godfather of air conditioning a man named John Gorrie, who received the first patent for an ice-making machine back in 1851 in Florida.</s>CHEN: I guess in Florida, even in the 1850s, they probably needed that. All right, let's take a look at some questions from our Web chat audience right now . Char Robinson asks: "I wonder what people did before they had air conditioning. Did it contribute to a lot of deaths?" Do we know that?</s>BROIKOS: Air conditioning still contributes to a lot of deaths. I think most people remember just a few years ago in Chicago there was a real problem with especially elderly folks staying indoors and being afraid to even put their fans on because of costs with electricity. But you know, today most metropolitan areas have cooling centers, and they get the word out immediately that those places are open. So hopefully, that kind of tragedy doesn't happen too much anymore.</s>CHEN: Yeah, you think about how much air conditioning has changed our lives, changed simple things like geography, Now, take a look around some of the pictures we're seeing here. This is out in Phoenix, Arizona. Could a city like Phoenix even exist today had it not been for air conditioning?</s>BROIKOS: Well, it could exist, but it certainly wouldn't be the same without air conditioning. We've seen a tremendous -- the tremendous growth of the Sunbelt cities -- Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Miami. There's just been an explosion of population down there because of air conditioning. I mean, you went there before, but it wasn't an all-around, year- round place to go. I mean, maybe the best example of that is Las Vegas. You can't imagine going to the desert, a place like Las Vegas in the middle of summer, but certainly we do now, and that's because of air conditioning.</s>CHEN: Think for a moment again here about what else has changed just because there is air conditioning. I mean, I suppose I would never have a chocolate bar in my pocket if there weren't air conditioning, but it would also change how we live, what kind of architecture, everything, wouldn't it, clothing, everything?</s>BROIKOS: Absolutely. I mean, our homes are very different today than they were in the past. Now, we can have large picture windows and sliding glass doors. Those things wouldn't really have been feasible in many parts of the country if it weren't for air conditioning because they just let in too much heat, and there's no insulation with that material. I mean, today we have much better insulation with glass, but when that first came out in the '50s, homes were literally known as hot boxes, because the modern architecture -- we wanted those big picture windows and sliding glass doors. The only thing that made that -- that picture possible was really the air conditioner. So we've become dependent on the air conditioner.</s>CHEN: Yeah, I was thinking about my father, who's in his 80s now, and he tells me that in Europe in the '30s, '40s, they still used like big ice, blocks of ice, put a fan next to it, and then were able to blow the cooling of that. That was still used in this country as well at that time.</s>BROIKOS: Exactly. Well, that was what John Gorrie first -- first really proposed or introduced, you know, blowing the fan across ice. But I mean, in many cases we -- our relationship with nature itself has been changed. I mean, now we think about staying indoors. Before we used to get out of doors, and you know, go to the beaches and go to the mountains.</s>CHEN: And now we can have TV studios because we have AC. Thanks very much...</s>BROIKOS: Exactly.</s>BROIKOS: ... Chrysanthe Broikos. She is with that exhibit, "Stay Cool: Air Conditioning in America." Think about it. Where would you be without AC? TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com