"It's a 1960s building, bourgeois and comfortable but completely picking up now for 2023." Axelle does not mince her words when she describes her home, an apartment in the thirteenth arrondissement of Paris. "Before, interiors were safe havens. But this is no longer the case at all, "describes this Parisian referring to this historic heat wave that has hit the France in recent days. The problem is that if all around, the air is cooler and breathable for two days, at home, the heat stroke is still felt. "Lead screed," she says as you walk through her doorstep. And yet all the windows are open! Axelle shows us. It is true that its interior gives the impression of a brutal return in a 35-degree France, that of two days ago. Except that outside, it's 20 degrees and it's raining. "My grandparents who were Polish loved the sun. For them, having sunshine here was synonymous with joy. But it is no longer suitable at all. We don't even have cold water anymore as the pipes are still hot. And it takes at least four days before cooling down, "blows the young woman.
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The same goes for Mathieu, who opens his window wide... No reason. Not a bit of fresh wind enters his studio of 20 m2 as the heat is omnipresent. This architect knows well the problem responsible for this impossibility to cool the housing, even after the heat stroke has passed. It is the thermal inertia of buildings, this propensity of materials to store heat and then release it diffusely more or less slowly. "You really need to insulate or design buildings," he says. While waiting for temperatures to drop at home, he thinks of going back to his parents' house for a few days. Find our video report at the top of the article.