The prevailing cosmological paradigm interprets the nearly linear red-shift–distance relation of galaxies as evidence that the entire fabric of space has been expanding since an initial high-entropy event commonly referred to as the Big Bang. This paper advances an alternative view: the observed expansion is confined to the hot, energetically active domain that constitutes the observable universe, whereas remote, energy-poor regions beyond the photon horizon may remain static or contractive. The apparent Hubble flow is modelled as a consequence of local thermodynamic gradients—zones of high temperature and energy density undergo metric dilation, while colder, nearly empty zones do not. The framework challenges the necessity of auxiliary constructs such as dark energy, the cosmological constant, or negative-mass antimatter, and outlines empirical signatures by which it can be tested.