Atmosphere II

The atmosphere is the 'essence' of a place. A place diffuses a multi-sensory image that can be perceived through personal lenses. This multi-sensory image is composed of sensory experiences. Essence as embracing these experiences forms the quality of a place for people. It gives meaning to a place by shaping a place's perceptual characteristics and creating a firm image for it. The sensible properties appear through that essence, and the emotive attitude towards a place originates from that essence. ‘’Characters (or essences) like night and day, nearness and farness, Orient and Occident, right and left, light and darkness, sound and silence, are, in fact, just like atmospheres, 'situations, quasi-things, orientations of the felt body’’.

So, people do not consciously analyze a place in the first place, but their felt body perceives the essence of a place that impress the emotional responses.

The atmosphere can be expressed in different '-scape' definitions since a place offers sense-based experiences. There is an interrelation between sensory experiences and psychological landscapes. The suffix –scape is used ‘’to convey the fluid panorama of perceptions.''. ''Each scape is a perspective depending on the situation of those navigating their way within it and on how they view these scapes, how they perceive and act upon them''. Each sensory image that is perceived forms a –scape and transforms into an environment that is never devoid of meaning. This environment is built by feelings and emotions. Considering that every scape offers a perceptual impression, the atmosphere that shapes an environment consists of these different scapes' traces.

The atmosphere can be associated with the term 'genius loci,' considered the intangible value of a place. '’Places have a spirit of their own’’. This spirit originates from meanings people assign to a place through personal interpretation. It means people attribute a character and identity to a place and creates its genius loci. It is related to the intangible structure of a place made from physical sensations and psychological emotions. This structure leads to an environment that is perceived and experienced by people. Genius Loci reveals itself through these environments. Accordingly, it makes each place unique, and the unique qualities of a place create an atmosphere.

The atmosphere can be understood as 'ambiance | aura.' Aura is a perception, a sensory reaction that does not repeat itself and changes with time, formed by combining the environment's elements with the person, landscape, and mood. Space's perception changes when it is perceived and the aura of space is like a snapshot of the soul there, continually changing according to all these factors.  The aura is:

It is the unique and unrepeatable atmosphere, unwillingly (and also mnestically) perceived, of an instant of authentic life; it is the unrepeatable apparition of something distant and inaccessible that, in a way, returns our gaze, so that ‘to perceive the aura of an object we look at means to invest it with the ability to look at us in return.'

The atmosphere is directly related to 'Stimmung | mood.' Each place the user is in, whether inside or outside, has a specific character of mood. ‘’Space has its determined mood, both as inner space and landscape. It can be serene, light, dark, dull, solemn, and this mood character is transferred to the man who lingers in it. In particular, it is atmospheric conditions that act, as serene, radiant, oppressive, etc., on man.''. Stimmung, expressed as mood or atmosphere, is associated with sensory memory of space. A place does not exist separate from its stories. To experience a new place is to enter the spirit of the place inevitably. Each story of the atmosphere is right, each story is about the place, yet the stories are entirely different. In the sensory relationship formed with a place, the smell of a place, light, and many other factors are the instant definition of the atmosphere that the user senses at that moment. This definition varies according to each place and the user.

As an unconventional definition of atmosphere, 'carnivalesque' is a mode with the literary value that disrupts and liberates the atmosphere through humor and chaos. Carnival is a free atmosphere that often encourages unexpected encounters and interactions, not accepting impositions and rules. The carnival sense ‘’is opposed to that one-sided and gloomy official seriousness, which is dogmatic and hostile to evolution and change, which seeks to absolutize a given condition of existence or a given social order''. As a space for discharging, carnival creates a new atmospheric experience area for the user, out of the daily practice. Inadmissible behaviors and situations are accepted as they are at the carnival. ’’Carnival is a moment when everything (except arguable violence) is permitted'' . The carnival atmosphere is a combination of contrasts that cannot come together in a sense.

The atmosphere can be associated with 'anchor' to describe the relationship between context and building. The term is used as a metaphor to express a physical fixation and says that fixing a building to its context can relate to the physical and the spiritual/psychological relation it establishes with the place. Anchor deepens the physical relationship between context and building, turning it into a more intense relationship.

‘’Anchoring designates a particular condition through which a building is rooted or connected into its site''. The relationship between a building and its context includes metaphysical, experimental, and poetic connections beyond physical relations.

The site of a building is more than a mere ingredient in its conception. It is its physical and metaphysical foundation… Through a link, an extended motive, a building is more than something merely fashioned for the site… Architecture and site should have an experiential connection, a metaphysical link, a poetic link.

Therefore, the anchor creates a deeper situation in architecture, explaining the relationship of the building with the place, the relationship of the place with the urban spaces, and space's experience with the atmosphere's change. Together with its relationship with the user and the anchor concept, the place experience causes the atmosphere's reproduction. The concept of anchor, in a sense, emphasizes the existence of context and the physical or atmospheric relationship established with the context. In like manner, the concept of 'floor' is explained as such that architecture cannot be considered separately from its context: ’’Without the site's presence, a singular and unique site, architecture cannot exist''. While each architectural space takes place depending on its context and a specific situation, the atmosphere of the space will inevitably change in the variability of these situations.

In which atmosphere correlates by branching off, these concepts have emerged with the condensation of atmosphere components in different parts on the same plane and various relations in different planes. In this way, the hidden meanings of atmosphere and the zones of this concept have emerged. These correlated concepts are essential in reconstructing atmosphere with the components such as 'sense,' 'experience,' 'emotion,' 'perception,' 'place.' Because it sheds light on the components of this concept, defines the relations it establishes, and also guides in drawing its contour.

[i] Yorgancıoğlu,D. (2004). “Yer, mimarinin bir nesne olma özelliğinin güvencesi, özgül nesnelliğinin koruyucusudur. Yer olmaksızın, tekil ve benzersiz bir yer olmaksızın, mimari var olamaz.” Rafael Moneo, May 1998, “The Murmur of the Site” (Yerin Fısıltısı) trans. by Dr. Emel Aközer, ANY Seçmeler, ed. Haluk Pamir, Ankara: The Association of Architects Publishing, p. 4, (trans. by Derya Yorgancıoğlu).

This study prepared within the scope of a graduate course MIM 505, at TOBB ETU, faculty of architecture. The main objective of the study is to rebuild the concept of atmosphere from a broader perspective. In order to create a structure and determine a frame for the study, a digital analysis and re-reading process were carried out within linked three different phases. These three phases involve determining the sources with the database ‘Web of Science’, exposing the relations between these sources via ‘VOSviewer', re-reading through digital scanning over obtained information by the help of ‘Voyant tools’. This process of digital analysis offered an environment for re-reading and re-constructing of the concept of atmosphere. Also, for the study, a comprehensive infographic that shows how the concept of atmosphere was reconstructed was prepared. (https://graphcommons.com/graphs/bae787c4-cc50-401d-a657-3d9bf0da3586)