INTERACTIVE ATMOSPHERE:
METAPHOR AND MULTI-SENSORY EXPERIENCES
Every experience of architecture is rooted in multi-sensory and embodied interaction with surroundings. Neuroscience studies show that all sensory modalities as well as linguistic paradigms are integrated in the sensory motor cortex of brain where mirror neurons are originated therein. Architectural metaphors, moreover, are contextually grounded and deeply rooted in existential experiences and embodied interactions with the built environment. Metaphors contribute in creating a subjective atmosphere in which strong meanings convey to beholders through the integration of multi-sensory experiences. Far from reductive abstraction that suppress human senses an atmosphere conveys meaning
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Metaphors were previously seen as rhetoric tools but today they have been proven to be firmly linked to our existential experiences. Based on George Lakoff and Mark Johnson studies linguistic metaphors are rooted in bodily engagement, primordial images and basic human experiences. What this means in that as we experience a new phenomenon we try to understand it in relation to our previous experiences.
Rudolf Arnheim has already provided us with an important clue in this regard by suggesting that the most effective architectural metaphors were in fact "Sensory Symbols," and that the most powerful ones were those embodied or grounded in the most elementary perceptual sensations, such as morning light streaming through a window. The reason for this, being that they refer to the basic human experiences on which all others depend. (As cited in Mallgrave, 2011, p. 175)
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Experiencing a space in its complete entirely could be taken through emissions of atmosphere, which is an immediate form of perception of environment and is recognized through perceptual sensibility. In fact understanding atmosphere is the most crucial for understanding architecture.
Yuhani Pallasmaa indicates ”The experience is multi-sensory in its very essence, but it also involves judgments beyond the five Aristotelian senses, such as the senses of orientation, gravity, balance, stability, motion, duration, continuity, scale and illumination. Indeed, the immediate judgment of the character of space calls for our entire embodied and existential sense, and it is perceived in a diffuse and peripheral manner rather than through precise and conscious observation. Moreover, this complex assessment projects a temporal process as it fuses perception, memory and imagination.” (Pallasmaa,
Metaphors can be defined as those concepts where a term is used to portray a different meaning in a phrase than what it literary means. Additionally, metaphors are also used to make rhetorical statements where one is speaking of something else but by the use of words that do not have the same meaning. Moreover, metaphors can be used when one is trying to compare two different items with different meanings to portray the same meaning in describing something (Arduini 83). The book “Their eyes were watching God” has several metaphors, which have different analyses.
In the Gift by Li-Young Lee metaphor expresses the theme that with the right amount of comfort and support the scary, deadly manifestations do not seem so bad anymore. An example of this is “And I recall his hands two measures of tenderness he laid against my face, the flames of discipline he raised over my head” (11.9-13). This compares the father’s hands to the epitome of tenderness and the fierceness of discipline. The father’s hands compare two different ideas based on what he chooses to use them for. This shoes how the father’s hands make the painful manifestations seem okay because of the care that they give. More examples of metaphors are “I can’t remember the tale but hear his voice still, a well of dark water a prayer” (11.6-8).
In the book Metaphors We Live By, authors George Lakoff and Mark Johnson address the traditional philosophic view denouncing metaphor's influence on our world and our selves (ix). Using linguistic and sociological evidence, Lakoff and Johnson claim that figurative language performs essential functions beyond those found in poetry, cliché, and elaborate turns of phrase. Metaphor permeates our daily experiences - not only through systems of language, but also in terms of the way we think and act. The key to understanding a metaphor's effect on behavior, relationships, and how we make sense of our environment, can be found in the way humans use metaphorical language. To appreciate the affects of figurative language over even the most mundane details of our daily activity, it is necessary to define the term, "metaphor" and explain its role in defining the thoughts and actions that structure our conceptual system.
True architects are needed to create architectural beauty and they do so by using “elements which are capable of affecting our senses, and of rewarding the desire of our eyes...the sight of them affects us immediately” (16). Le Corbusier’s says that we must standardize architecture with respect to function so that we can mass produce it until we perfect its aesthetic through competition and innovation. Le Corbusier believed that Architecture schools weren’t teaching students correctly and that engineers would be the ones who save architecture. Architecture is a thing of plastic emotion. “It should use elements capable of striking our senses, of satisfying our visual desires…arranging them in a way that the sight of them clearly affects
The road goes ever on and on. Down from the door from where it began. Now far ahead the road has gone and I must follow it if I can. Pursuing it on weary feet until I joins some larger way where many paths and errands meet and whether then I cannot say.
Every person in that worldly population can relate to the use of metaphors in everyday speech, no matter what their language. It is not uncommon for someone to encounter metaphors multiple times in one day, though many times they go unnoticed even if they are “right under our nose.” These metaphorical phrases are not meant to be taken literally. For example, when someone tells you to “bite the bullet,” they are not requesting that you actually put a bullet in between your teeth. In fact, they are asking you to bravely face up to something unpleasant just as many soldiers were asked to clench a bullet in between their teeth (in lieu of anesthetics) to transfer the pain of the amputation or surgery (something very unpleasant indeed) that they were about to undergo (“Expressions and Sayings”).
But these contrived differences give rise to esthetic difficulties too. Because inherent differences—those that come from genuinely differing uses—are lacking among the buildings and their settings, the contrivances repre...
Gehry’s additional design of the exterior has created an unconventional model form of house. The asymmetrical form characterizes the entire external side of the house. According to Goldstein, Gehry tried to slant the house roofline, create a false perspective and cause an absurd viewer’ perception or expectation (1979, 9). The complexity of the form might also produce a relationship with the house’s elements such as door, wall, and roof. For example, those elements, which linearly constructed, were hardly noticed since the distraction of geometric form around the exterior part of the house. It’s even barely hard to find the entrance of the house as a result of the salient angles of exterior.
Home is experienced in a multitude of ways using our senses. Impressions of our past and present homes materialize from a familiar smell, sight, feeling, taste or sound. We all live in a multi-sensory environment, where we can use one or more of our senses on a daily basis to absorb our surroundings. However, it is easily arguable that although each sense can conjure up a memory, or imprint a grasp of where we live or lived, certain senses are stronger with the recollection or the feelings we have of our home. If we live in the same home as other people, some of us will associate a certain smell to the home, while others will not; or a sound, etc., that I would not associate with that home. I will be pursuing the reasons why we absorb our environments
As an extension of the previous theory, genius loci theory branches out of the social characteristic of the phenomenology theory. Norberg-Schulz (1980) was the first theorist to introduce this theory in 1979; he defined it as the sense or feeling humans have about a certain place. In 1980, he published “Genius Loci: Towards a Phenomenology of Architecture” where he better explain the idea of a sense of place. He mentions that a sense of place should be seen from the view of the daily user (Norberg-Schulz, 1980). For this sense of place to be experienced, the daily user needs to be a part of its creation by contributing towards the ‘sprit’ that makes up this sense of place (Norberg-Schulz, 1980). Norberg-Schulz places significant importance on the word ‘spirit’ when mentioning its effects on the sense of place of an environment. He uses the word as reference to physical characteristics of a place; how people perceive and feel objects in an environment; how people express themselves culturally around that environment; and lastly, the building form adds up to complete the symbolism and spirit of this place (Norberg-Schulz, 1980).
The author explains architecture as an identification of place. Architecture starts with establishing a place. We define ‘place’ as a layout of architectural elements that seem to accommodate, or offer the possibility of accommodation to, a person, an activity, a mood, etc. We identify a sofa as a place to sit and relax, and a kitchen as a place to cook food. Architecture is about identifying and organizing ‘places’ for human use.
Remarkably, unlike in the description of art or music, the notion of atmosphere remains largely unaddressed in architecture. Atmosphere, can be argued, is the very initial and immediate experience of space and can be understood as a notion that addresses architectural quality, but the discussion of atmosphere in architecture will always entail, by definition, a certain ambiguity. After all, atmosphere is something personal, vague, ephemeral and difficult to capture in text or design, impossible to define or analyse. Atmosphere, Mark Wigley says, “evades analysis, it’s not easily defined, constructed or controlled”.
Perception, at most times, is a credible way to assess the world around us. Without perception, we would not know what to do with all the incoming information from our environment. Perception is constructed of our senses and the unconscious interpretations of those sensations. Our senses bring in information from our environment, and our brain interprets what those sensations mean. The five most commonly accepted senses -- taste, smell, hearing, sight, and touch -- all help create the world around us as we know it.
The word “metaphor” originates from the Greek word “metaphora” in which “meta” means “to cross”, and “phor” – “to carry”. Overall, the whole word means to transfer from one thing to another. Traditionally, metaphor is considered a merely a matter of literacy, a rhetorical device and language decoration. The conceptual metaphor, whose background was first founded by George Lakaff and Mark Johnson in 1980 states that metaphor is not only a type of rhetorical device but also people’s general thinking mode and way of cognition through which the people can understand the unknown things via the known(Lakoff & Johnson, 2003).
When humans evolved to constructing early buildings, they sought to reinforce the connection with the outside world by positioning primitive openings and windows. These purpose-built apertures provided not only access to daylight and fresh air but also a symbolic interface between inside and outside. Furthermore, they attuned human dwelling habits to the daily rituals of living and to sleep-wake cycles, synchronizing the rhythms of light to the twenty-four hour cycle. Given this fundamental symbiosis between humans and daylight, the language of architecture has exploited the interplay between the built environment and the naturally-lit interior. Architecture has become adept at maximizing the comfort-giving qualities of light, emphasizing the visual focus and connection, whilst contributing to the sense of well-being. Architecture’s objective has been to capture, enhance and articulate daylight using the building’s components to filter, reflect, mediate and redirect light.