Architecture and Emotion

ARCHITECTURE AND EMOTION Defining the relationship in between Spatial Composition and Sensory Reactions

Armando Jose Uhia Hernandez

The Leeds School of Architecture Leeds Beckett University 2019

Table of Contents Preface 1 1 Introduction .... 3 2 Chapter One “A World Full of Stimuli” .... 4 3 Chapter Two “Eye vs. Body” .... 6 4 Chapter Three “The Investigation” .... 10 5 Chapter Four “The Results” .... 12 6 Chapter Five “Conclusion” .... 15 7 Appendix .... 20 8 Bibliography ... 23

PREFACE

A couple of weeks ago I had the tremendous pleasure of experiencing Hans Scharoun atmosphere in one of his masterpieces, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin (The Library of The State in Berlin). There I was, running late trying to make my way through a foreign country when I start approaching the library (not very impressed by the external composition).

I walked in and the world stopped for a minute. A very dramatic separation. Suddenly I am greeted by the perfect level of light, my steps echo on the natural stone and marble floor as I walk towards the circular desks for information, on the left the colored windows with the perfect combination of reds, orange, blue, purple (the sun, bringing them to life beautifully) and right in front of me, I am witness to this conversation of the geometry of the circles (information desks) and the engraved white lines on the floor, the inviting staircase, no column is intrusive, the building carries his own sound (a mixture of silence and noises.

Noises that are necessary and perfectly allocated for this atmosphere. I can’t help but to think in Peter Zumthor words “Listen, Interiors are like large instruments, collecting sound, amplifying it, transmitting elsewhere, that has to do with the shape peculiar to each room and with the surfaces of the materials they contain and the way those materials have been applied”(Zumthor, 2006). I could even argue that it had an aroma of peace, history and discerning, perfect for learning.

Most inhabitants would agree that it smelled like nothing but I was personally living in a movie due to this perfect spatial composition that I was observing. Nonetheless there I was, observant of the beautiful conversation of the geometry, lighting, sound, aroma, texture everything exactly where it needed to be, for me to touch with my entire body. Bear in mind I was only in the foyer dropping my coat to join the tour. As I continue through the building I discover, the light changes and progresses depending on the program allocated with no separation. The arrangement of spaces flowed flawlessly and carefully. The artificial lighting, pieces of art floating in orbit like planets or stationary stars, art pieces perfectly allocated to be slowly unveiled and discovered. Even the stairs had the correct ratio in height to make you feel almost as you were floating through each level. I have only been five minutes in the building and I have already been moved by it. And so it happens very quickly, perhaps in the fractions of seconds, perhaps in the first ten minutes, but I knew this “form of perception that works very quickly”(Zumthor, 2006), I was breathing a different type of air.

Figure 1. Staatsbibliothek Zu Berlin – Hans Scharoun, Berlin (completed 1972)

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Even before I consider becoming an architect, I felt atmospheres. As a child, I would visit my best friend’s country home while under construction. A little house on the top on a hill in Villaverde (Fuerteventura), rather a strategic point for such intervention. The architect used a big window to exploit the viewpoints as it overlooked Lanzarote (a neighboring island), the walls were painted white and the mark of the windows were dark wood beautifully framing the view and orchestrated to be the same tone as the sand and stone of the island. Exposed structural elements of volcanic rock and balconies allocated on the west for spectacular sunsets bringing texture to the shadows. All these elements were carefully prepared for the interactions of contextual elements and create atmospheres. I was not yet architecturally literate (still not) but I was sensitive to the atmosphere not knowing the amount of thought the previously went into them. Another memory I recall would be right after I emigrated to the United Kingdom I use to stare at The University of Manchester in Oxford Street, wondering why the building had such presence, such power and what interiors would it have in accordance to this modern world and the classic nature of such building; to bring more context Zumthor expands “Buildings always say something to a street or a square. They can say to the square: I am really glad to be situated on this square. Or they could say I am the most beautiful building here” (Zumthor, 2006).

Figure 2. “The Gonzales Residence - North Elevation”

Figure 3. “The Gonzales Residence -View from Window”

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INTRODUCTION Architecture should be a joy to the senses. This art gives birth to an environment full of stimulation and challenge. These stimulations form reactions and hence emotions which root us to the space, emotions that make us feel invited, that create a sense of belonging or completely the opposite. Some spaces propose an area to reflect and perform in our passions or to evoke a certain reaction or feeling, purposely crafted by the architect.

Spaces are composed by elements we sense with our eyes, ear, nose and sometimes even taste. Like Film Directors ‘on-set’ or orchestra conductors, architects organize, construct and coordinate these environments with the ultimate goal of the grand experience.

Successful architecture should touch us and move us towards a greater existence.

It is simple to understand that the composition of spaces assembles sensory reactions and such reactions generate emotions “if emotion in the past years has been defined as the response of a biological organism to a stimulus, a different dynamic is now beginning to be revealed. Not only are emotional systems now viewed as motivational processes, giving life to or shaping conceptualization, but affectivity also and already posits a ’postural attitude’ or readiness to act within the environment in which we dwell” Mallgrave, 2018, p2. Stripping it from any spiritual meaning in the words of Newton’s Third Law, every action causes and reaction and in addition it also causes a consequence. But what happens when architecture fails to produce a reaction?

When the spaces that we are living in failed to propose and interaction as they perhaps lack character and desire to manifest so.

The aim is to explore different orchestrated spaces and analyze the stimuli generated in the inhabitants. This paper intends to delve into the elements that form these spaces through a mixture of extensive research, cross-analysis of scholarly articles and self-led investigation by the methodology of interview.

The initial research of literature and cross-analysis of scholarly articles should give way to then perform a study in which the inhabitants report the emotion caused by several interventions in the hope of arriving in the conclusion of whether the exhibits shown demonstrate to be successful or unsuccessful to produce such interactions and produce stimuli. The following results will be narrowed down to the clarification of whether these interventions cause emotions (good or bad emotions) or no emotion at all.

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A WORLD FULL OF STIMULI CHAPTER ONE

The architectural interventions that currently surrounds us give the sense that they suffer from the absence of impetus in order to move their inhabitants and to engage with them. These spaces seem to be lacking personality and statement and as a result, these spaces fail to deliver, culminating into the abortion of their original purpose. No architect design with the intention of creating failure in their creations.

Spaces that follow this example decline to generate an atmosphere and therefore fail to enhance the existence of the dweller that lives within it, failing in fabricating emotions or reactions. Therefore, the question is whether successful architecture is the manufacturing of such atmospheres that elevate and enhance the dweller or an inert carcass that humans inhabit for the purpose of shelter.

Emotions are conscious experiences characterized by intense mental activity that produces a certain degree of pleasure or displeasure. The physiology of emotions is closely linked to the arousal of the nervous system that collects the stimuli from the environment. These stimuli are captured by our senses and can appear in the form of light, noise, texture, temperature or aroma.

Our bodies in direct contact with these stimuli perceive everything around us “My body is truly a navel of the world not in the sense of a viewing point of the central perspective, but as the very locus of reference memory, imagination, and integration”(Pallasmaa, 2005).

Hence memories, imagination, and integration are things worth experiencing and remembering, triggered by an intervention (sometimes architectural) that are generated in a specific environment called (in the words of Peter Zumthor) atmospheres.

Most of the architectural interventions carry an atmosphere “We perceive atmosphere through our emotional sensibility” (Zumthor, 2006). Atmospheres are sensed by emotional response, Zumthor explains with an example while describing his love for the music of Brahms with the following “We perceive emotional response from music. The first movement of Brahms’s viola sonata. When the viola comes in – just two seconds and we are there! Not so powerful in architecture but is there too”(Zumthor, 2006) this example demonstrates accurately the sensing of atmospheres, whether it is achieved by music or by a spatial composition that together resonates to create an aura that ultimately touches us or moves us. Understanding that “The essential mental task of architecture is accommodation and integration…” would be the first step to generate spaces as such, rather than dull and insipid environments – “…architecture articulate the experience of being-in-the-world and strengthens our sense of reality and self; it does not make us inhabit worlds or mere fabrication and fantasy” (Pallasmaa, 2005).

“It is evident that life ‘enhancing’ architecture has to address all the senses simultaneously and fuse our image of self with our experience of the world” (Pallasmaa, 2005) Architecture depends on the inhabitant and on the architect to be manifested. Great responsibility falls under the architect that create ANY sort of space as stimuli is also a function. Experiencing the world is an experience in itself because someone has the joy to live it and call it so.

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Architecture with no dweller resembles a radioactive monument in solitude as it cannot be admired and therefore fails to give testimony of its value “Buildings and cities provide the horizon for understanding and confronting of the human existential condition. Instead of creating mere objects of visual seduction, architecture relates, mediates and projects meaning� (Pallasmaa, 2005) hence the importance of creating atmospheres that inflict stimuli is immeasurable. An emotion is vital, good or bad but still vital.

Figure 4. Bruder Klaus Chapel | Mechernich, Germany | Architect: Peter Zumthor

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EYE VS. BODY

CHAPTER TWO Hence, why are architects creating spaces that leave us apathetic and indifferent? What kind of briefs are followed? Where does importance truly lies? Is vision being favored over other senses? Can we measure emotion through perception?

As explained by Robinson on Being Moved by Architecture “Corbusier claiming ‘I am and I remain an impenitent visual – everything is in the visual’ and Walter Gropius as insisting as the designer ‘has to adapt knowledge to scientific facts of the optics and this obtain a theoretical ground that will guide the hand giving shape and creating the objective bias” (Geer et al., 2018, p.10). This rather follows the current state of society in which must consumerism is mostly absorbed by the eyes. The above statement deprives architecture of its soul and also deprives the other senses of our body most importantly deprives any intervention from magnificent potential. The above reasoning is simply stating that architecture is only for those who have the sense of vision and that the other senses are less important. It must be added to this statement the way in which the eyes became eyes “All the senses, including vision, are extensions of the tactile sense; the senses are the specialization of skin tissue, and all sensory experiences are modes of touching and thus related to tactility. Our contact with the world takes places at the boundary line of the self through specialized parts of our enveloping membrane” (Pallasmaa, 2005) furthermore and clinically proven “[The Skin] is the oldest and the most sensitive of organs, our first medium of communication, and our most efficient protector… Even the transparent cornea of the eye is overlain by a layer of modified skin… Touch is the parent of our eyes, ears, nose, and mouth” (Pallasmaa, 2005) – the words of anthropologist Ashley Montagu through Pallasmaa.

To respond to this issue is important to address the following “Now I am not denying that understanding architecture involves an understanding of overall form and function. What I am arguing is this isn’t enough for a rich appreciation of architecture and that recent architecture and architectural theory have overemphasized its importance”(Geer et al., 2018).

It is compulsory to indicate the seriousness of the topic. Architecture goes beyond the visual and such responsibility falls of the designer’s realization to discover the potential in it. The hidden meaning behind such unsuccessful interventions can be also addressed by the lack of modesty of the architect or also and funny enough could be called upon the architect’s lack of vision, perception, and sensibility to examine and affect space. As architects is unavoidable to arrive to the following revelation “architectural spaces are lived spaces rather than physical spaces, and lived spaces always transcend geometry and measurability” (Pallasmaa, 2005) in addition, “good architecture invites or compels multisensory experiences and a way of moving and acting that can be felt in a bodily way by the appreciator”(Geer et al., 2018).

This trail of thoughts leads to the question proposed by Zumthor: “What do we mean when we speak of architectural quality?” Architecture that achieves to move us and cause a magnificent reaction “the ability to touch within seconds” (Zumthor, 2006).As mentioned before what achieved to move us in the composition of space, Zumthor expands “So what moved me? Everything? The things themselves, the people, the air, the noises, sound, colors, material presences, textures, forms too… forms I can appreciate too. Forms I can decipher. Forms I find beautiful” (Zumthor, 2006).

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The statement reveals therefore that architecture goes beyond the visual and that in order arrive to its maximum potential architecture most address all the senses. The architect must be passionate enough the look always a step further to himself/herself and rather direct the attention towards the potential inhabitant as mention before architecture must present ‘lived spaces’ rather than ‘physical spaces’ Mathias Goeritz proposes the following: ‘I came to the conclusion, after considerable meditation, that the building should be a living institution, a place where anyone who felt an urge to carry out a daring art project could do so – an idea I have been dreaming for several years.” (Goeritz, 1970).

An example would be the Jewish Museum by Daniel Libeskind when explaining the emotions caused by the building and the interventions “in the case of the Holocaust museum, it’s complicated to explain what is real” (Tsiftsi, 2018, p.17). When speaking of the meaning of authenticity when visiting the memorial. The current state of reality is altered by the installations across the museum. Some parts of the museum interact with the level of light, taking the inhabitant through a range of light changes that the eye needs time to adjust, sometimes creating a sense of being lost and evoking the emotion of desperation, resembling the emotional condition of the Jewish people during the war. Other rooms are left at a very low temperature, combining the shock of the cold in the body and the complete darkness the surrounds you broken only by the slither of light in an opening at a very high altitude again generating a stimuli with the spatial arrangement and provoking several emotions and in this case the eye is derived from its function, leaving the other sense to capture the stimuli and fabricate different emotions such as desperation, loneliness, hope, sadness, contemplation or nostalgia depending on the individual perception of the inhabitant.

It is rather interesting what Xenia Tsiftsi explains of The Journal of Narrative and Language Studies on the meaning of authenticity and reality and the connection with the senses and presence “Benjamin Apropos states that authenticity requires a prerequisite: presence. One can only see and experience something authentic when it is physically present” – comparable to the spatial configuration that architects manifest as they direct in their spatial arrangements “at the same time and space as the audience perceiving it. Hence whole expectations may differ from person to person, generally people go to authentic memorial sites to find a connection with the past.

They can get the story anywhere but when confronted with the material remains it become tangible” (Tsiftsi, 2018, p. 18-19) Furthermore, the connection in between what is seen its important but also on what is not seen.

A room is composed by the spatial presence of materials, sounds, smells creating a direct connection in between the inhabitant, the spaces and the emotions are drawn out of the spatial composition as a whole rather than the stimulation of just the eye. The transition from the darkness of the installations in the JMB to the peace of the Garden of the Exile evokes the emotion of eradication and disorientation created by the 49 concrete stelae and the ramps in which the inhabitant is forced to move through, just as another example.

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“ We refer to architectural representation of the Holocaust; the past is brought into the present and we are located between two temporal structures: that of the presented and that of the present as an actual spatiotemporal structure of existence. The past mediated to us represented by spatial visual and tactile means and is experienced in the present through those means. The present is the reality of the moment a reality that is composed by the material presence, the format configurations and function of the used space” (Tsiftsi, 2018, p.22) The spatial composition has an impact on the stimuli captured and, on the emotions generated on the inhabitant, not abusing the eye as the main point of focus depriving the other sense of stimulation but enhancing them. Interventions like this one are successful in their function. It is recognizable that this is a very specific function for a very specific program in a very specific building none the less is very rich. This example establishes the minimum requirements that every architect should apply to their design in order to create successful spaces regardless of the function.

Following that trail of thoughts, we can narrow this statement to the conclusion that perceiving is experiencing and that experiences are always remembered due to emotions.

It is important to understand that perceiving with our senses is closely linked with experience.

The capture of sensorial stimuli through spatial composition aligns with the thoughts and that “we can no longer view built environment through the Cartesian lens, of interpreting meanings found in objects or buildings. The humanities and the science today have simply discarded such dualities, and as designers, we should do the same” (Mallgrave, 2018, p.2) we seem to glorify architectural history over meaning, view over metaphysical value leading architects to the creation of meaningless spaces.

Figure 5. Jewish Memorial Museum | Holocaust Tower and The Garden of Exile (Right) | Architect: Daniel Libeskind

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“We need to acknowledge the fact that minds, bodies, environments and cultures collectively enact or interact with each other in a development process on multiple levels organismic expression, one that plays out differently with each new generation” (Mallgrave, 2018, p.2) and if this is the case, Michael Foucault concept in heterotopias can be applied to the line of process that architects may follow during the development of their projects. Heterotopias are explained as worlds within worlds, mirroring and yet upsetting what is outside, hence it can be interpreted as the architect’s own perception of reality and spatial composition for the spaces the architects are to design through life. One of the qualities that the concept of heterotopia has is precision and if so, it involves the careful consideration of every spatial aspect considered in the design of spaces and its sensorial effect within our organism. It is also crucial to discern the difference between place and space. Place would have name, character, purpose and metaphysical value.

Hence it would be imperative for architects to affect space and turn it into a place. Imagining that inhabitants could populate visible heterotopias at will then, “upon entering a room, for instance, we, in a multisensory way, take in the gist of the evolving perception, its positive or negative valences, long before we stand back and reflect on what we have experienced. Every perception is in this way and evolving ‘experience’ whose embodied intricacies can now be viewed in real time by ever more sophisticated technologies” Mallgrave, 2018, p. 2-3.

The medical meaning of heterotopias also suggests a good course of action to turn space into place. In the medical field, heterotopias are defined as the displacement of an organ from its original position. Expanding on such buildings and architectural interventions can do the same and as such interventions invade spaces where they do not belong, they also start transforming meaningless spaces into wonderful places and experiences.

Figure 6. Heterotopian Diagram in Relation to Spaces and Time | Heterotopia Concept | Michael Faucoult

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THE INVESTIGATION CHAPTER THREE

In order to elaborate on this investigation and example from Ivan Garcia-Marino’s was observed.

In this investigation Garcia explains of the Positive and Negative Affect Scale (abbreviated PANAS) including a list of words differentiating in between this two categories (Positive and Negative) “They indicate (speaking of PANAS) to what extent the word describes their feelings and emotions” (García-Magariño, Chittaro and Plaza, 2018) Though Garcia’s research is purely scientific and has no correlation with the examinations of built environments. Nonetheless, he compared the results in between PANAS and body temperature readings (emopaint) giving Garcia’s very accurate results. It is therefore defined that the correlation in between the definition of the word, the acceptance of such and reference has a strong connection with the emotional status of the subject in question.

Another question arises through the research of Ines Schindler “How beauty does feel?

The notion of the aesthetic appeal is more felt than known it has substantial tradition in philosophical aesthetics. Emotions accompany and inform our experiences of art, literature, music, nature or appealing sights, sounds and trains of thought more generally” (Schindler et al., 2017, p.3) Schindler explains “despite the high relevance of emotions for understanding the aesthetic appeal, will still lack a generally agreed upon classification of and measurement tool for such emotion” (Schindler et al., 2017p.4) despite this fact Schindler continues when speaking of measuring such that the results can only be theoretical. The methodology ‘of a domain-general self-report questionnaire to assess the spectrum of emotions occurring in response to the perceived aesthetic appeal of stimuli’ (Schindler et al., 2017, p.6) so the same path is taken in this investigation as also Garcia did with a questionnaire in order to extract a word in the form of an emotion.

Therefore, it is intended to present a subject with two pictures from one intervention or building. The subject will be provided with some time and left in private. The interviewer will present the subject with a list of emotions in order to facilitate their expression and the subjects will be asked to pick which word is the most accurate that describes their current emotion in relation to the photograph of the place. Data will be collected and analyzed to extract which of these ambits prevails, emotion or apathy.

There are limitations or variables when it comes to the investigation: “The appreciation of architecture, like any other art form, depends on the first hand of experience of it that one tries to recreate in imagination” (Pallasmaa, 2005) just as it is explained in the preface for Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin or The Gonzales Residence. Robison expands “Perhaps it will be objected that in order to appreciate a work of architecture it is not necessary to engage with all this bodily imagining, because one can use photographs of how the building appears from different perspectives in order to understand and appreciate the building. But photographs will only capture what can be seen without active, as it were” (Geer et al., 2018). To counter this limitation, it is intended to dull the environment around the subject in order to enhance the image that is presented in front, however, this is a big limiting factor for the research.

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In response to the limitations and of the subjects participating it is important to understand that “it is difficult to draw a clear distinction between aesthetics and other emotions in our experiences. For example perceived beauty also enhances the perceived social and intellectual competence of people, the perceived usability of products and the perceived correctness of solutions to simple mathematical addition problems: what is beautiful seems good, useable and true” (Schindler et al., 2017, p.10) but this doesn’t guarantee is correct nor accurate as it only uses the eyes and the subject imagination to navigate the space.

Based upon the research found around the topic of qualifying and analyzing emotions it is decided the investigation will be based on whether the material presented on this investigation causes an emotional response or on the contrary it fails to do so, resulting on apathy. Though it is important to record which emotion is extracted from the subject participating in this investigation.

In order to be as precise as possible the emotions on the investigation will use the same words used by Schindler on table one “Scales of Affective Quality Attribute to places (Built Environments) ” and the category “Affect Scales measuring experiencing of places (Urban Landscapes) (Schindler et al., 2017) examples of these words are: comfortable, anxious, relaxed, safe, bored or distressed.

Figure 7. Bodely Sensation Maps | EmoPaint examples.

Extract from Ivan Garcia-Marino’s investigation.

On the Left the the readings show an emotion of envy.

On the right the readings show an emotion of surprise.

Envy

Suprise

Figure 8. Extract from Ines Schindler’s Investigations (Scales of The Affective Quality Data)

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THE RESULTS

C H A P T E R F O U R Forty people from different backgrounds took part on the research. Participants were presented with two types of questionnaires. The first questionnaire involved four questions accompanied by four images and a list of emotions chosen in previous studies of similar research, with the intention of choosing the word that relates and describes the environment in conformity with their emotion. The participants were left alone with the images to give them privacy.

The four examples were: The Brion Cemetery, a random break area, a room in a flat at the nuclear city of Chernobyl and Villa Savoy (Figures 9 to 12) The second questionnaire had the same layout. This time, only two cases were presented: Villa Savoy and The Brion Cemetery both connected by a narrative written by the architects when speaking of the above spaces.

During the interviews, in questionnaire number one, most participants had conflict with choosing one emotion to describe the image presented (Figure 18-19), as this was very limiting to their means of expression. On the contrary, on the second questionnaire the images (accompanied by narratives) picking answers where more precise than in questionnaire one, from picking four to five emotions (scenario one) to picking one or two (scenario two).

A considerable number of participants also chose to expand with their statement by having a conversation about their chosen emotion constantly referring to the spatial composition.

Comments like “the clarity of the space…” when speaking of Villa Savoye or “…very intriguing the change from light to dark” when speaking of the threshold formed by Carlo Scarpa’s Brion Cemetery.

A clear differentiation, almost totalitarian was found during the research. Almost no participant was ambivalent when answering the questionnaire. There is always an emotion generated by the environment and/or the spatial composition. This observation suggests that regardless of the spatial composition or whether the emotion is good or bad, spaces always evoke an emotion in the inhabitant. In order to improve the investigation it would be interesting to travel with inhabitants who have not been in the installation before and record their reaction, though the exposure of different elements of the spatial composition of a building. Providing a narrative before the visit would not be necessary as the person is experiencing the place in the flesh, however privacy is indispensable for the experiment and for the inhabitant not to hint the perception because the emotion of scrutiny overpowers. The participant must be willing to be recorded by hidden cameras to get a sense of the reaction caused by the space and their linguistic expressions, however the disclosure of such cameras should be proposed before the visit to allow the subject to forget that it is in fact being observed. Another approach would be to design a smaller set of spaces with different atmospheres, perhaps of 8 square meters, then leaving the inhabitants to walk at leisure (with hidden cameras previously placed), followed by an interview in regards of their emotions about the place the participant just experienced.

A very interesting case was suggested by a participant who explained that the reflection in between architecture and emotion within an environment was a new concept for him. He stated that one must consciously react to the space by the examination of the environment and not by the automatic reaction of our sensorial organs.

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The participant then added that a new perspective on how spaces are read was brought to his attention, later suggesting that the “sustainable movement” has blinded the concept of emotion when it comes to the composition of spaces by the concerns of the adaptability and uses of the space for as many programs as possible. This statement suggests a shift of attention in the architect’s mind but it doesn’t argue the fact that a sustainable space can also evoke powerful emotions, conscious or unconscious, imagined or lived.

Figure 9. Paticipant Outline for The Investigation.

The above diagram show the two possible paths for the participants.

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Figure 10. The Brion Family Cemetery | Architect: Carlo Scarpa

Figure 11. Villa Savoye | Architect: Le Corbusier

Figure 12. Abandoned Apartment due to Nuclear Disaster | Chernobyl, Ukraine

Figure 13. Random Break Area

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Figure 14. Data Record and Analysis (No Narrative)

The Following results were recorded:

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Figure 15. Data Record and Analysis (with Narrative)

The Following results were recorded:

CONCLUSION

CHAPTER FIVE It would be interesting to understand Harry Mallgrave’s view on the topic of atmosphere on his book ‘From Object to Experience’, to conclude. The loss of touch within humanity leads to think we are losing connection within our own emotions. We seem to suffer of what Mallgrave calls “existential outsideness” (not belonging to a place) against the “empathic insideness” (identifying with a place) Through the investigation it was proven that every space generates an emotion regardless of the architectural quality, it is priority to “restore the deep emotional and cultural attachment we are inclined to share with the place we live in” Mallgrave, 2018, p.118 and to acknowledge that the subject of Architecture, spatial presence and emotion has a great impact on the future manifestation of the buildings “Do community centers, surgery rooms or working offices have atmospheres? They do, of course, although we rarely acknowledge it” (Mallgrave, 2018, p.121).

It’s evident we have lost touch as inhabitants and as architects. The homogeneity of the landscape around us makes this irrefutable. Losing touch with feelings and emotions that root us to a place. Technology not being used in the correct manner collaborates to this issue as “global positioning devices and the communication tools of social media further erode the physical features of a place” Mallgrave, 2018, p.119), blinding us from experiencing atmospheres, making us less human, less cultured.

It is inevitable to grasp an attitude of diligence as “failure to protect songs, ceremonies and sacred object is equivalent to giving up land” (Tilley, 1994, p.38,47) as this results that place (and the atmosphere for that matter) “is the humanization and enculturation of space. We give place a name, we endow it meaning and acknowledge its existence” (Mallgrave, 2018, p.120).

Perhaps the issue is we are facing, is that not enough thought is given to the emotional potential an environment may have. Too much is left unanswered and unattached to the building during a design process that has no metaphysical value and now attention is given to the topic of atmosphere and emotion. Architects must remember the words of Heidegger “to build is two dwell” and in addition, it’s imperative to understand our personal position when approaching decisions regarding the design of the spatial composition.

Mallgrave proposes a rather uncomfortable question when speaking of constructed environments which lack character “…- just as we construct placeless environments, so does out sense of placelessness alter the nature of who we are?” Malgrave 2018, p119.

It was clear that, following the conversation with the participant of the research for this paper, that the problem is not allocated on the architectural quality of the space but in our ability to sense and analyse the concept of atmosphere in our environment and more specifically to architects to then apply such concept in their design process granting it of the importance that the concept has because “if place has a tangible physiognomy it would be atmosphere- that is, its familiarity and appropriateness, defined by how its sensory appeal and the emotional attunement perceptually enlist attention and are understood by those experiencing it. Atmosphere draws upon the embodied sensorimotor or mirror processes by which we engage every environmental situation, but it is also something more. It suggests that atmosphere of the human inhabitant should have “presence” or authenticity of feeling, one formed not only by the ingenious assembly or composition of materials but also how we measure its emotional depth and richness” Malgrave, 2018, p.120.

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A new approach should be taken in the design process explained by Nicholas Le Campus de Mezieres on the designers approach to design, through the words of Mallgrave “…- he insisted that not only should every room of a household be fitted with a unique character but also that the designer, like a skilful painter, must – ‘learn to take advantage of light and shade, to control its tints, his shadings, his nuances, and to impart true harmony as a whole” (Mallgrave, 2018, p.120) furthermore he adds attending to the problem of homogeneity in the landscapes citing that “we must start from this principle whenever we intend to arrive emotion through Architecture, when we set out to address the mind and to STIMULATE the soul rather than TO BUILD BY PILING ONE STONE ON ANOTHER, indiscriminately copying arrangements and ornaments that are imposed by convention or borrowed without reflection” Mallgrave’s add “Such advice defines a starkly different perspective from the leveling design tendencies we often view today in architecture” Mallgrave 2018, p.120.

Architecture’s potential to connect with its inhabitants is being handicapped by the lack of emotion caused in the environments that are built today. Few architects today have their emotional perception attached to their design process and this may be the reason in the production of bland spaces. Such emotional perception seems to rarely make it to the physical manifestation in the architectural expressions and interventions of today. It is clear (through the research of these spaces) that every space regardless of their architectural quality generate and impact in the inhabitant and even though it is hard to quantify and measure emotion our instincts can quickly take us to our favorite place in world through the remembrance of sensorial reactions that linked us to such place through the experience generating and emotion. Such emotion is most times influenced by the architecture around us and the “physical presence” of that who surrounds us.

The colloquial sentence “we are a product of our environment” is commonly used to justify present situations blaming it on past mistakes or circumstances. Humanity cannot succeed in our passions and meet our expectations if we as wanderers of the world navigate through incorrect atmospheres. A different approach is urgent and necessary.

“To live in an environment which has to be endured and ignored rather than enjoyed is to be diminished as a human being.The society which ignores this confusion, and mediocrity make an imponderable but real contribution to the frustration and depression which produce stultified, sick or apathetic citizens” Gauldie, Architecture, p.182

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APPENDIX

Figure 16. Form used for The Investigation (Narrative)

Figure 17. Form used for The Investigation (Narrative)

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Figure 18. Examples of Data Recorded on cases aided by Narrative. This examples show a concise selection of emotions.

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Figure 19. Example One of data recorded on the investigation. In this case, no narrative just images were presented.

Figure 20. Example Two of data recorded on the investigation. In this case, no narrative just images were presented.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY • García-Magariño, I., Chittaro, L. and Plaza, I. (2018) ‘Bodily sensation maps: Exploring a new direction for detecting emotions from user self-reported data’, International Journal of Human Computer Studies, 113(February), pp. 32–47. doi: 10.1016/j. ijhcs.2018.01.010.

• Geer, C. et al. (2018) ‘Art as Communication Published by : Wiley on behalf of The American Society for Aesthetics Stable URL : http://www.jstor.org/stable/425948’, 2(8), pp.

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