The Video Call – Part 2*

## **Scene: The Video Call – Part 2** **Setting:** *Split screen. **Ahmad** in a cool Kuala Lumpur apartment vs. **Pierre** sweating in a Parisian "historic" flat. The temperature in Paris is now 45°C (113°F).* **Pierre:** (Wiping sweat from his eyes, voice trembling) "Ahmad, I hear you. But I can’t just drill into this wall! It’s a **historic monument**! We must preserve it! If we change the facade, we destroy history!" **Ahmad:** (Leaning forward, intense) "Pierre, listen to me closely. **You are living in that building.** It is not a museum. It is not a statue. It is a **home**. If no one was living inside it, yes, maybe you preserve it exactly as is. But **humanity is living in it!**" **Pierre:** "But the heritage laws... the aesthetic..." **Ahmad:** "Aesthetic?! Pierre, in history, humans built houses for one reason: **to stay safe and live comfortably!** From the first cave to the first hut, the goal was **survival**! What happened to that mindset? Since when did a house become a prison to protect a brick pattern?" **Pierre:** (Looking around his sweltering room) "I... I don’t know. They say we must suffer for the greater good of history." **Ahmad:** "Suffer? **62,700 people died last year!** That’s not 'suffering for history,' that’s **dying for bureaucracy**! You think cavemen said, 'Let’s keep this cave exactly as is, even if it floods'? No! They moved! They adapted! If a building cannot keep its residents alive, it has failed its only true purpose!" **Pierre:** (Staring at the wall, then at his AC remote which he isn't allowed to install) "So... you’re saying the history is less important than the people inside?" **Ahmad:** "I’m saying **history is dead people’s stuff**. **You are alive.** If you die, the history doesn’t matter anymore! Preserve the **look** if you must—take a photo, keep the front wall—but let the people inside **live**! Don’t turn your home into a tomb just to please a committee!" **(Pierre looks at the camera, then slowly stands up. He walks to the window, looking at the historic street below, then back at his sweating family.)** **Pierre:** "You’re right. A house is for living. Not for dying beautifully." **(Pierre picks up a drill. The screen cuts to black as the sound of drilling begins.)** *** ### **The Context (July 13, 2026)** * **The Report:** The **Consumer Choice Center** report "**Keeping it Cool**" (June 26, 2026) explicitly states that **heritage permits** and **condo vetoes** are acting as **death sentences**, contributing to **62,700 heat-related deaths** in 2024. * **The Critique of Facadism:** While preservationists argue facadism creates "false history" or "Halloween preservation," the report counters that when **residents are at risk**, the **functional safety** of the home must override the **integrity of the facade**. * **The Core Truth:** As Ahmad notes, the **original purpose of housing** throughout human history—from caves to mudbricks—was **safety and comfort**. Prioritizing **aesthetic stasis** over **human survival** is a modern inversion of that fundamental truth.