atmospheres workshop

November 2018 @ TML (EV. 7.725 Concordia SGW Campus)
co-organized w/ Desiree Foerster

Wind, temperature, clouds, mist – these phenomena have in common that they can hardly be objectified. They have no identifiable parts or clear dimensions, no form and are partly or completely invisible. But we do experience their dynamic presence through our bodies: the body’s sensitivity on cellular, organic, and organismic levels, allows for engagement with phenomena that go beyond subject/object dichotomies. ​

Atmospheres mediate processes which usually remain unnoticed, e.g. the phase-shifts of matters such as condensation and vaporization that connect to the spatial and temporal variation of microclimates within a space as well as the impact of airflows, particle movements and other energetic effect factors on microclimates. These microclimates not only structure the space we inhabit, they also are dynamic in nature and are reciprocally interrelated with our living and breathing bodies: Our bodies emit heat, we take in oxygen from the air and breathe out carbon dioxide as well as other chemicals. Not only do we effect and are affected by our surroundings through the ways we act, we also are interrelated with our surroundings on biochemical levels.
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​Attuning to processes rather than turning to objects, allows to become sensitive for relationships between different materials and energetic flows as well as our responsiveness on the biochemical levels of our bodies. This sensitivity is embodied and differs from rational thought in so far as it prevents the perceiver to objectify what is being perceived – an act that would render the perceived as something distinct. Instead, participating in the unfolding of processes in our surroundings, enables the ongoing emergence of something new, without assuming a necessary end-point of emergence.

The aim of this investigation of atmospheric media is to map out the expressive qualities of atmospheric media for a design practice to demonstrate:

• how spatial continuity can be achieved in relating attributes of dynamic behavior of water, vapor, air, sound, and light to significances in space;
• that the indifferent role of the human perceiver is challenged in making their impact and responsiveness to the environment part of the spatial composition itself; and
• how the expressive qualities of atmospheric variables can be used to experience layers of meaning in spaces, that are usually not comprehensible.
• In adding a new layer of engagement and bodily knowledge to the experience of architecture that makes graspable complex dynamics beyond human scale, attune to the “spatial” state of our surrounding, so that other, not immediately present states and processes can become present, part of our lived experience.