Archiprint6Creating & Experiencing Identity
Atmosphere and Identity
OASE 91
During the preparation of this issue of Archiprint, we
attended the conversation between Gernot Bhme, Pe-
ter Zumthor and Juhani Pallasmaa organized by OASE
Journal for Architecture, on 29 April 2014 in Amster-
dam. OASE organized this evening on the occasion
of their 91st publication called Building Atmosphere. A
topic of which we think is strongly related to the sub-
ject identity. We attended to this evening to get a hint
about the relation between atmosphere and identity.
The evening, introduced and led by Klaske Havik, con-
sisted of short introductions from Bhme, Zumthor and
Pallasmaa on the theme Building Atmosphere followed
by a conversation between the speakers.
Giving voice to the user perspective
In his introduction, Gernot Bhme argued that atmo-
sphere as meant in Building Atmospheres departs from a
critical stance to modernism of which the style is overly
dependent of the visual. After having shown his personal
contribution to misty photography, Gernot Bhme stat-
Gernot Bhmes misty photographs, OASE 91 presentation, 29 April 2014, Amsterdam
[photo: Michael Maminski]
29
Paul Kersten
ed: Architecture always has produced atmosphere, for
instance atmosphere of holiness and power. But archi-
tecture beyond modernity rediscovers the perspective of
the user. It is not only about the building as such, but it
is dealing with felt space, mindful bodily presence. This
might become an explicit topic in architecture1. In line
with Bhme, Juhani Pallasmaa seems to derive his inter-
est in the concept of atmosphere from the users point
of view. He is mainly interested in the relation between
man and place and the tactile and haptic experiences in
buildings in an existential sense. Pallasmaa states: It is
place and moment, the actuality of existence, that is the
essence of atmosphere.2
Starting point for atmospheric experiences
In OASE 91, according to the editors, also Christophe
-
tionship between building and man3. In line with these
in the work of Zumthor can be explained in this way as
atmosphere has to do with scale, with things happening
close to people. Moreover, this relationship between
building and man has a deeper meaning if we are to
believe Zumthor. In response to the question raised by
Michiel Riedijk about tendencies towards nostalgia of
the farmer life in the mountains and how one ever can
convey these notions based on ones own intuition
and feelings in communal knowledge or practice, Pe-
ter Zumthor answered: We all come from houses and
landscapes. Thats where we start, it is our basis. These
1
Gernot Bhme at the presentation of OASE 91, 29
April 2014, Amsterdam.
2
Juhani Pallasmaas reaction to: Gernot Bhme,
Encounerting Atmospheres, OASE 91 (2013), 99.
3
Klaske Havik, Hans Teerds, Gus Tielens, Editorial,
OASE 91 (2013), 11.
Atmosphere and Identity
are starting points for atmospheric experiences. If you
want to create atmospheres, this is where you should
start. It has nothing to do with nostalgia4. A wellknown
understanding of what certain spaces mean comes from
Peter Zumthors book Thinking Architecture where he
describes his aunts kitchen. He states that the atmo-
sphere of that room is insoluble linked5
of a kitchen.
Linking Building Atmosphere to identity via the
concept of engagement
The explanation by Zumthor of how the past contributes
to the practice of building atmospheres strongly relates
to the work of Christian NorbergSchulz regarding the
identity of places. In The Phenomenon of Place, Nor-
bergSchulz argues that future experiences are prede-
concrete environmental properties and that mans rela-
tionship to these is usually developed during childhood
and the child gets acquainted with the environment,
and develops perceptual schemata which determine all
future experiences6. So as Zumthor states that atmo-
sphere is based on the places we come from, Norberg
Schulz states that human identity depends on schemata
developed in the places where our roots lay. What
atmosphere and identity of a place have in common is
that both involve engagement with a certain place. The
Afterwards we asked Juhani Pallasmaa about his ideas
on the relation between atmosphere and identity and he
referred to tune management as a method to hold the
the mood of people. While the quality of a space is there
for everyone to be experienced, it is there in an objec-
with this space can take shape through the perception
of people. Moreover, Pallasmaa argued that atmosphere
is the accumulation of ingredients of the identity of a
place. This relates to what he stated earlier that evening:
why do some spaces make us feel like outsiders, while
7
. 5
Building identity: challenging and risky
As the essence of atmosphere is the actuality of exis-
tence, identity and atmosphere come very close to each
30 Paul Kersten
other. Could we imagine Building Identity as a topic in
counter-balance to come to an architecture that redis-
-
bergSchulz argues that we need existential foothold to
orientate ourselves in and identify with places. Moreover,
states that Human identity is to a high extent a function
of places and things8. To identify with a place has to do
Building Identity would be a very challenging and at the
same time risky task. On the one hand it would insist
that a certain situation or context is taken seriously
and that one makes efforts to build sustainable, on the
other hand, identity is a concept subjected to personal
perception and therefore one risks to build on quick-
sand: the identity of the place might change through the
perception of people or through contextual changes in a
physical sense.
A hidden agenda in Building Atmosphere
Throughout the evening organized by OASE increasingly
sort of atmosphere in itself, characterized by vagueness,
slowness and rootedness. It seems that atmosphere is a
very subjected concept here; subjected to misty photog-
raphy and mountain life, tradition and ageing of building
materials. In this sense atmosphere seems to have a
hidden agenda: propaganda for certain aesthetics.
-
quently, as future architects, how can we take the user
perspective seriously, including its indeterminateness,
and take the inherent dynamics of human life for granted
4 of Architectural Theory 1965-1995 (New
Peter Zumthor at the presentation of OASE York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1996),
91, 29 April 2014, Amsterdam. 424.
7
Peter Zumthor, Thinking Architecture (Basel: Juhani Pallasmaa at the presentation of OASE
Birkhuser, 1998), 9. 91, 29 April 2014, Amsterdam.
6 8
Christian NorbergSchulz, The Phenomenon Christian NorbergSchulz, Genius Loci: To-
of Place in: Kate Nesbitt (ed.), Theorizing a wards a Phenomenology of Architecture (New
New Agenda for Architecture. An Anthology York: Rizzoli, 1991), 21.