Andreas Embirikos describes in a poem entitled ‘In the Philhellenes’ Street’ an apocalyptic experience in the centre of Athens during a heat wave. In this moment of extreme physical conditions are condensed both the materiality of urban events and a spiritual manifestation revealing a specific historical and cultural substratum as well as a universal dimension of the human condition vis-à-vis death and life. We can then see how the experience of urban ambiances is a catalyst for such fundamental oppositions; we can also compare this condition to that of the air-conditioned city, which by separating the space into hot and cold engenders sensorial experiences revealing the contradictions of contemporary urban environments.