This book explores the notion of affective space in relation to
architecture. It helps to clarify the first-person, direct experience of
the environment and how it impacts a person's emotional states,
influencing their perception of the world around them.
Affective space has become a central notion in several discussions
across philosophy, geography, anthropology, architecture and so on.
However, only a limited selection of its key features finds resonance in
architectural and urban theory, especially the idea of atmospheres,
through the work of German phenomenologist Gernot Böhme. This book
brings to light a wider range of issues bound to lived corporeal
experience. These further issues have only received minor attention in
architecture, where the discourse on affective space mostly remains
superficial. The theory of atmospheres, in particular, is often
criticized as being a surface-level, shallow theory as it is introduced
in an unsystematic and fragmented fashion, and is a mere "easy to use"
segment of what is a wider and all but impressionistic analytical
method. This book provides a broader outlook on the topic and creates an
entry point into a hitherto underexplored field.
The book's theoretical foundation rests on a wide range of
non-architectural sources, primarily from philosophy, anthropology and
the cognitive sciences, and is strengthened through cases drawn from
actual architectural and urban space. These cases make the book more
comprehensible for readers not versed in contemporary philosophical
trends.
