Archiprint6Creating & Experiencing Identity

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Atmosphere and Identity

A Reflection on OASE 91

Paul Kersten

During the preparation of this issue of Archiprint, we

attended the conversation between Gernot Bhme, Peter Zumthor and Juhani Pallasmaa organized by OASE
Journal for Architecture, on 29 April 2014 in Amsterdam. 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 subject 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, consisted of short introductions from Bhme, Zumthor and
Pallasmaa on the theme Building Atmosphere followed
by a conversation between the speakers.

ed: Architecture always has produced atmosphere, for

instance atmosphere of holiness and power. But architecture 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 interest 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
this haptic sense of being in the world, and in a specific
place and moment, the actuality of existence, that is the
essence of atmosphere.2

Giving voice to the user perspective

In his introduction, Gernot Bhme argued that atmosphere 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-

Starting point for atmospheric experiences

In OASE 91, according to the editors, also Christophe
van Gerrewey defines atmosphere as an intimate relationship between building and man3. In line with these
definitions, the focus on materiality, detail and also aging
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, Peter 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.

Gernot Bhmes misty photographs, OASE 91 presentation, 29 April 2014, Amsterdam

[photo: Michael Maminski]

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
example of how ones memory strongly influences ones
understanding of what certain spaces mean comes from
Peter Zumthors book Thinking Architecture where he
describes his aunts kitchen. He states that the atmosphere of that room is insoluble linked5 to his definition
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, NorbergSchulz argues that future experiences are predetermined in the past: [] the objects of identification are
concrete environmental properties and that mans relationship 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 atmosphere 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
question is how to facilitate this engagement?
Influencing moods
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
different ingredients of a place together that influence
the mood of people. While the quality of a space is there
for everyone to be experienced, it is there in an objective sense and in this way the identity of or identification
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
others make us feel like insiders?7.
Building identity: challenging and risky
As the essence of atmosphere is the actuality of existence, identity and atmosphere come very close to each

30

Paul Kersten

other. Could we imagine Building Identity as a topic in

architecture? Can identity also be a strong concept or a
counter-balance to come to an architecture that rediscovers the perspective of the user? Can identity as a
concept also pursue a specific aesthetic? Christian NorbergSchulz 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
with concrete objects that fit ones personal schemata.
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 quicksand: 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
it seemed that the referred atmosphere is a very specific
sort of atmosphere in itself, characterized by vagueness,
slowness and rootedness. It seems that atmosphere is a
very subjected concept here; subjected to misty photography and mountain life, tradition and ageing of building
materials. In this sense atmosphere seems to have a
hidden agenda: propaganda for certain aesthetics.
We should ask ourselves if we should fill a certain
concept or place with a very defined meaning. Subsequently, as future architects, how can we take the user
perspective seriously, including its indeterminateness,
and take the inherent dynamics of human life for granted
as well?

4
Peter Zumthor at the presentation of OASE
91, 29 April 2014, Amsterdam.
5
Peter Zumthor, Thinking Architecture (Basel:
Birkhuser, 1998), 9.
6
Christian NorbergSchulz, The Phenomenon
of Place in: Kate Nesbitt (ed.), Theorizing a
New Agenda for Architecture. An Anthology

of Architectural Theory 1965-1995 (New

York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1996),
424.
7
Juhani Pallasmaa at the presentation of OASE
91, 29 April 2014, Amsterdam.
8
Christian NorbergSchulz, Genius Loci: Towards a Phenomenology of Architecture (New
York: Rizzoli, 1991), 21.