Atmospheric Dimensions of Architecture

Abstract

This paper proposes four methodological tools for investigating architectural atmospheres: objective experience, holistic measure, computational simulation and atmospheric visualization. These tools have emerged from a broader PhD research agenda based on the hypothesis that ephemeral effects of light, heat, sound, odor, carried on or in the air, present a scientific basis for precise construction of atmospheres in architecture. By describing my own atmospheric methodology over a series of individual case studies, I will argue that architectural atmospheres can be scientifically investigated and precisely constructed, and that atmospheric approach to architectural research and design offers new invaluable knowledge about the invisible aerial behaviors that determine basic human experience of space.