The Journal of Architecture

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A model for everyday experience of the built

environment: the embodied perception of
architecture

Aya Peri Bader

To cite this article: Aya Peri Bader (2015) A model for everyday experience of the built
environment: the embodied perception of architecture, The Journal of Architecture, 20:2,
244-267, DOI: 10.1080/13602365.2015.1026835

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/13602365.2015.1026835

Published online: 07 Apr 2015.

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The Journal
of Architecture
Volume 20
Number 2

A model for everyday experience

of the built environment: the
embodied perception of
architecture
Aya Peri Bader David Azrieli School of Architecture, The David and
Yolanda Katz Faculty of the Arts, Tel Aviv University
(Author’s e-mail address: [email protected])

Architecture’s daily impact on its users is the result of neither concentration nor focused
attention. Preoccupied with everyday tasks, most people do not stop to observe the architec-
tural object as a work of art. In this paper I investigate the content that may be present when
architecture is experienced in the state Walter Benjamin calls ’distraction’. Using a phenom-
enological model of attention and my applied research, I propose a plausible model for the
Lived Experience of the Built Environment (LEBEN). I further consider the possible com-
ponents of the everyday experience of architecture and the urban surroundings, and
suggest an integrative structure for it. Part I explains the need for the research and presents
its objectives. Part II discusses the phenomenological model of attention and awareness.
Parts III and IV present the LEBEN model, briefly describing its sources in the literature,
and applied research, based on a workshop that examined multi-subjective perspectives. I
note the research assumptions, methodology and the challenges facing such an investi-
gation, eg, whether it is possible to study a phenomenon that exists beyond the realm of
focal attention. Part V introduces the core-themes and categories distilled from my research
(edge, depth, change, atmosphere and affordances) and positions them in the LEBEN model.

I. Introduction the concentrated attention lavished upon a unique

The German philosopher Walter Benjamin (1892– building.
1940) observes that modernity transforms the way In popular language ’distraction ’may imply a situ-
that art will be (re)produced and experienced. In ation in which someone is momentarily harried or
’The work of art in the age of its technological repro- anxious and therefore not focused on the architec-
ducibility’ he relates to architecture as a form of art tural surroundings. This, however, is not Benjamin’s
but distinguishes between the two.1 Using the enig- meaning; Benjamin employs the word ’distraction’
matic phrase ’distracted reception’, he broaches to indicate the very essence of the everyday architec-
what seems to be an obvious claim: in everyday tural experience in which, under ordinary circum-
life, architecture is perceived mainly in a state of stances and without significant changes in the
habitual distraction, ie, without concentration or environment, the subject must actually ignore the
focused attention. We are familiar with a place built surroundings to some degree in order to func-
and act within it almost without noticing or thinking tion satisfactorily in the daily routine. Benjamin’s
about it. This type of perception is far removed from concept of distraction is not an empty state that

# 2015 RIBA Enterprises 1360-2365 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13602365.2015.1026835

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should simply be ignored; rather, it is a kind of ’little lived-immersed, experience of architecture in every-
noticing’, the most common type of experience of day life, and thus to advance the existing discussion.
the built environment. This insight into the habitual I argue that architects, designers and educators
perception of architecture suggests what the role must acknowledge this experience, understand
and meaning of architecture may be in everyday how it is perceived and thus address it when con-
life and poses a challenge to the common architec- templating the construction of human environ-
tural approach. ments. How does people’s apparent indifference to
There is insufficient compatibility between the their architectural surroundings affect their routine
prevalent professional understanding of the percep- experience? Or, in other words: how do we experi-
tion of architecture, and how architecture is in fact ence the built environment around us despite our
perceived in everyday life. Architectural praxis everyday preoccupations? To understand better
devotes its analytical and critical attention to the architectural experience in everyday life, I investigate
architectural object, focusing on meticulous design the ’inattentive experience’ of architecture and
for the perceptive, attentive eye of the user. This attempt to clarify its structure and components,
approach is manifested both in the enormous their interrelationship with physical built elements
efforts and resources architects devote to imaging and their impact on the user-perceiver.
the architectural object, and their tendency to
regard it as a monument, iconic landmark or urban II. A model for perception: attention and
sculpture. Most people, however, do not pay full awareness
attention to their architectural surroundings; their The everyday perceptual experience as described
passing awareness of the architectural object may above may cause some discomfort in a discussion
be closer to indifference or oblivion than to con- of architecture and the built environment. Since
scious appreciation. architecture is generally considered a familiar back-
The study of everyday life, and the embedded dis- ground that demands no concentrated attention
cussion on everyday architecture, embraces cultural from its users, is it conceivable that architecture
studies and philosophical perspectives.2 These simply does not exist for them most of the time?
fields have dealt largely with the social, political When architecture does not call for action or obser-
and cultural aspects, and contribute greatly to the vation beyond the ordinary habits of its users
important discussion of everyday life in establishing (thereby remaining out of focus), can we conclude
helpful models and terms; yet they frequently over- that architecture is meaningless and irrelevant,
look the immediate, direct human experience of devoid of impact on everyday life?
the architecture, constituted by the sensory-motor To discuss these questions, I develop a model of
human body, its senses, feelings and movement in perception and attention based on phenomenologi-
an ever-changing physical (material, built) space. cal analysis, the essential ground for any study of
This article aims to shed light on the common, immediate, direct human experience and perception
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A model for everyday experience of the

built environment: the embodied
perception of architecture
Aya Peri Bader

Figure 1. The total field in everyday life.3 Phenomenology examines the

of consciousness structures of consciousness as experienced in the
symbolised by a circle,
first-person point of view. Employing the phenom-
following Gurwitsch
(diagram). enological study of architecture, I will merge its find-
ings with the user’s experience of the built
surroundings. This will demonstrate why the lived
experience of mundane surroundings still challenges
architectural studies, and how the existing research
in architecture may help answer my questions.
Assuming that the lived experience in habitual sur-
roundings is characterised by ’less-attentiveness’, I
deploy a phenomenological model of attention as a
basis for this study. Aron Gurwitsch, who investigated
the relationship between phenomenology and Gestalt
psychology, describes figure and ground, denoted as
’theme’ and ’thematic-field’, which operate in our
conscious life.4 He explains that the total field of con-
sciousness can be symbolised by a circle (Fig. 1): and field, within the theme itself, etc. It is not a
The theme with which we are dealing occupies restriction or amplification of what is important at
the centre of this circle; it stands in the the- the moment; rather, ’any clear discussion of the
matic-field, which, to abide by the metaphor, concept of attention necessarily entails contextual
forms the area of the circle; and around the the- consciousness and marginal consciousness as part
matic-field, at the periphery as it were, the of a sphere of attention’.7 Whenever there is the-
objects of marginal consciousness are arranged.5 matic (focal) attention, contextual and marginal con-
P. Sven Arvidson, who studies the phenomenol- sciousness are present and coordinated with it,
ogy of attention transformations,6 uses Gurwitsch’s although each functions according to different
terminology, defining theme (focal attention) and organising principles.8
thematic-field (a context for that focus) as two Hence we can conclude that we handle the
dimensions that receive different kinds of attention. environment with different, ever-changing
Marginal awareness is the third dimension, a periph- amounts of attention during daily life while being
ery that is irrelevant to the theme though still co-pre- preoccupied with other matters. Though certain
senting. Noting that there is no single kind of situations demand our full, conscious attention,
attention, Arvidson suggests a typology of attention meaningful perception will also be derived from the
that distinguishes among attentional states. Atten- contexts of things and from marginal awareness.
tion, he says, shifts in several ways between theme Not a single, static mode, attention is an active-
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dynamic structure comprised of three modes, all logical distinctions. On the one hand, when consid-
constituting part of experience. Focal attention in par- ering aspects of the lived experience, there is a
ticular, merely one element of attention, is constantly difference between attentive/inattentive, reflective/
shifting. Both its context (thematic field), also perpe- pre-reflective, and thematic or peripheral percep-
tually shifting, and its periphery (marginal awareness) tion. On the other hand, there is also a distinction
actively participate in the structure of attention and between the lived experience and the objectifying,
bear equal importance in delivering essential knowl- detached process of analysis. My research aims to
edge and meaning. Thus, there is more to perception capture the lived experience of architecture (which
than that which stands at the centre of attention: can be attentively described), not the inattentive
even when an individual is in a state of minimal experience of architecture (which is impossible to
awareness, that which is at the periphery of percep- describe without transforming it through conscious
tion also has meaning. This is crucially significant for attention).10 By asking the architectural user-percei-
the study of the architectural experience.9 ver to describe a lived experience and then analysing
its intrinsic properties, comparing it with other such
III. Designing an applied phenomenological reports and with documentation of the environment
research itself, we can discover repetitive elements that may
My point of departure is that the everyday experi- reveal the common foundations of the experience.
ence of the built environment is characterised by a The following served as the main assumptions for
unique mode of perception which neither concen- the applied phenomenological research of everyday
trates on, nor appreciates, the architectural object. experience of the built-familiar environment:
According to the typology of attentional states,
however, meaning and knowledge can and do 1. Focal attention is not a prerequisite for percep-
exist even at the periphery of attention. Therefore I tion; in fact, most human perception is not
ask: what elements do enter our perception of archi- achieved through focused attention.
tecture in daily life, and how? 2. Most of the impact architecture has on users is
This question may pose an inherent methodologi- not a result of focused attention on the architec-
cal problem: as we seek phenomena outside the tural object; rather, the object is ’absorbed’ in a
realm of focal attention, is it possible to elicit a state of habitual indifference.
first-person response to the everyday, lived (dis- 3. The meaning and content of the perceptual lived
tracted, pre-reflective) experience without specifi- experience is not found on the conceptual-cog-
cally directing the subject’s attention to it? In other nitive level alone. The experience of architecture
words, is there a way to investigate the daily experi- in daily life is pre-conceptual, and is derived,
ence of architectural surroundings without asking amongst other things, from the human body
participants to focus on the architectural object? and its sensory-motor capacities, ie, embodied
To overcome this issue we must make two methodo- actions and the enactive aspect of perception. 11
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A model for everyday experience of the

built environment: the embodied
perception of architecture
Aya Peri Bader

Applied phenomenological research—conducting a unfocused awareness of the built environment

workshop as possible, the participants had other (small)
What is present perceptually in the user’s everyday tasks whilst walking. They were not told what
experience of architecture, and what is absent? the real purpose of their assignment was.13
What aspects of it does the user notice, and what They were asked then to describe the experience
remain unnoticed? they just went through in full detail, and to write
To research these issues a method and plan that it down, in as dense, rich and explicit manner as
integrated content analysis of first-person perspec- possible.14
tives on habitual urban experiences was used, with 2. The research followed the phases of Mousta-
concepts derived from the phenomenological kas’s modification of Van Kaam’s method of
approach to architecture. In order to establish a phenomenological data analysis. A complete
baseline of rich first-person descriptions of experi- transcription of each workshop participant was
ences in various built environments, a workshop used, and a ’soft’ content analysis was applied
was conducted, entitled: ’Phenomenology of archi- (ie, arising from the text itself, without implying
tecture: a study of everyday experience’.12 The external terms and concepts). This yielded clus-
research was designed to obtain careful, dense ters of core-themes and textural-structural
first-person descriptions of familiar surroundings descriptions for each testimony and for the
from users while remaining as faithful as possible group as a whole, through the following steps:15
to the phenomenon of the lived architectural experi- a. Listing and preliminary groupings of
ence. It further aimed to allow a dual analysis of every expression relevant to the experi-
these descriptions, first through their content and ence.
second by means of theoretical terms and concepts b. Determining the ’invariant constituents’
drawn from the architectural and phenomenological by reduction and elimination: testing
literature. The workshop included the following each expression for two requirements:
stages: (i) Does it contain a moment of the
experience that is a necessary and suffi-
1. Assembling an assortment of first-person testi- ciently constituent for understanding it?
monies of ordinary experiences of the architec- (ii) Is it possible to abstract and label it?
tural surrounding. Each participant was Expressions not meeting the above
required to report her experience of four differ- requirements were eliminated. Overlap-
ent locations of a well-known built environment: ping, repetitive and vague expressions
a familiar street, the faculty buildings, the neigh- were also eliminated or presented in
bourhood near the campus and her way home. more exact descriptive terms. The per-
In an attempt to avoid direct attention to the spectives that remain are the invariant
architecture and to maintain as close to everyday constituents of the experience.
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c. The invariant, related constituents of ality, peripheral surroundings, movement,

experience were clustered into a the- depth, ambiance21 and atmosphere.22
matic label. The clustered and labelled b. A search focused on the manifestation of
constituents are the core themes of the prominent ideas and insights that
the experience. were distilled from the process and con-
d. Using the relevant, validated invariant structed another textual-structural
constituents and themes,16 an individ- description for each testimony, this time
ual textual description was constructed based on the theoretical concepts.
for each participant, including exact 4. A comparison was made between the individual
examples from the transcriptions, and and the group structures based on the core-
a textual-structural description of the theme categories, and the theoretical concepts,
experience, incorporating the invariant in search for affinities or contradictions. The
constituents and themes. conclusions of this phase formulated the
primary categories of my research, which are:
From these individual textual-structural descrip-
depth, edge and change, environmental affor-
tions a composite description of the meanings
dances and atmosphere, all of which are
and essences of the experience, was developed
shaped by the enactive body and its relationship
representing the group as a whole.
to the environment.
3. Following phase 2 each transcription was ana- Based on the integration between the partici-
lysed for compatibility with concepts from archi- pants’ categorical core-themes and the theoretical-
tectural theory, which question the essence of phenomenological concepts, I return to Gurwitsch’s
the architectural and spatial experience and model of consciousness and Arvidson’s attentional
the ways it attains meaning: structure and seek to incorporate a detailed model
a. The above-mentioned steps a-c were for everyday architectural (perceptual) experience.
applied to seminal theoretical thinking of Examining the architectural implications of phenom-
architectural-environmental experience. enological terms and concepts, I use Maurice
The focus was mainly on the notions: Merleau-Ponty’s basic notions of ‘embodiment’
heart, enclosure, roof and mound as the and ‘depth’ to explain some of the outcomes of
four elements of architecture;17 floor, the research. Merleau-Ponty’s ideas have been
wall and roof as indications for inside- studied extensively by architects and architectural
outside relationships, and their sub-cat- theorists, such as David Leatherbarrow and Juhani
egories: directionality, materials, texture, Pallasmaa, and by phenomenologists, including
mass and weight;18 the multi-sensual David Seamon and Edward E. S. Casey. I have
architectural experience;19 expanses, drawn on their insights as well as those of the
defined and concentrated space;20 spati- German philosopher Gernot Böhme and the Norwe-
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A model for everyday experience of the

built environment: the embodied
perception of architecture
Aya Peri Bader

Figure 2. The LEBEN

model (diagram).

gian architect Thomas Thiis-Evensen (influenced by Arvidson. Added to these is the content of the cat-
Norberg-Schulz), who present interpretive phenom- egories of the everyday experience of architecture
enology not derived from the primacy of perception. revealed by analysing the workshop data, ie,
I will now introduce my suggestion as to what might depth, edge and change, environmental affordances
be such an integrated structure, its invariant con- and atmosphere.
stituents and their interrelationships. By employing the LEBEN model (Fig. 2) the
research suggests that while we are always
IV. A model for the perceptual experience of immersed in the built environment in a distracted
architecture in daily life way, certain aspects of our surroundings rise to our
Based on Gurwitsch’s model and on close scrutiny of attention from this ambient world when we are in
the participants’ descriptions, I developed an expla- some way concerned. An extraordinary situation,
natory model to understand the lived experience of such as fascination, disturbance or problem, gener-
the built environment, named LEBEN (the Lived ates a shift into focalisation. The daily, ’little noticing’
Experience of Built Environment). The structure of mode of experiencing architecture suggests that we
the LEBEN model draws specifically on Gurwitsch’s distinguish between marginal awareness and the
metaphorical circle and on the dynamic relationships thematic field of attention, both of which support
between attentional dimensions as elaborated by and enable the theme of perception. This distinction
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is based upon their relevance to the experience, the pre-conceptual sense of place called atmos-
role they play in constructing it, and the amount and phere. The atmosphere of a physical space or
type of awareness they engender. construct can indicate to users whether or not
The experience of the everyday environment takes it is benign, indicated by its spatiality and mate-
place not through a single attentive state, but in a riality perceived through marginal awareness,
dynamic interchangeable structure of three active, but it is also deeply influenced by the users’
attentive layers: theme, context and margins. The own subjective expectations, recollections and
LEBEN model details the content of this immediate, emotions. Some of the latter can transform per-
embodied perceptual experience and the relation- ceptions, making the atmosphere the theme of
ship between its parts as follows: the experience.
(1) The theme of the lived perceptual experience of I will now explain the LEBEN model elaborating on
the built environment is the subject’s ability to the evidence and the theoretical sources that helped
act in a specific environment according to what reveal its invariant constituents and their inter-
it offers, ie, its environmental affordances relationships that are its content and structure.
(using J.J. Gibson’s term).23 Unexpected
obstacles to (bodily) performance, the result of
alterations in either the environment and/or the V. The LEBEN model: categories and core-
subject, will jolt the built environment into focal themes, description and explanation
attention. Other extraordinary circumstances, Adding an architectural perspective to Gurwitsch’s
such as a confrontation with an unusual architec- reciprocity structure of consciousness, I suggest
tural specimen, can bring about the same result. that there is concrete content in the routine percep-
(2) The perception of the built environment notifies tion of the familiar. I will now describe the content of
users of the ongoing changes in their relationship this experience in terms of depth, spatiality change,
to the environment through the concepts of edge and atmosphere as part of a dynamic and inter-
depth and edge, which form the context or the- changeable relationship.
matic field of the experience. The context of the
everyday experience of architecture (in which the Focal attention on the architectural surrounding, and
theme operates) is a dynamic process of percep- the theme of perception
tion through movement within the surround- I shall first address what is usually considered the
ings’ spatiality by means of the rich, embodied major architectural experience: awareness and
experience of edge (eg, changes in direction, focal attention concentrated on an architectural
scale, light, temperature, enclosure and more), object. In certain circumstances, even over-familiar
as will be elaborated below. built surroundings will appear at the focus of atten-
(3) At the marginal awareness of the user’s tion. What are these circumstances? One obvious
lived architectural experience is an immediate, case, says Walter Benjamin, is the ‘traveller’ standing
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A model for everyday experience of the

built environment: the embodied
perception of architecture
Aya Peri Bader

before a famous building: the unusual, fascinating provides is dynamic and changing.25 This kind of
character or reputation of this object naturally perception is embodied, not reflective. When we
leads to a special awareness of it.24 Although most look at objects, Gibson tells us, what we immedi-
of us rarely encounter such buildings in our everyday ately perceive is their affordances (opportunities for
lives, we might wonder whether such a building bodily acting), not their physical qualities.26
would continue to attract our attention if we were Gibson’s observations refer to any organism living
totally accustomed to its presence. in its natural world. Yet, when investigating the built
More often, our distracted perception in daily life environment, one should bear in mind that these
shifts into reflective perception and focused atten- man-made surroundings are designed and built for
tion only when we (our bodies) are challenged by human use, thus they usually already ’afford’ sub-
some disturbance. As mentioned earlier, in everyday jects to act in accordance with the physical (con-
life we are (always) immersed in other matters than trived) features (eg, staircases, handrails, doors,
the built environment; it rises to (or shifts into) our handles, flat floors, etc.). Still, the analysis of the
attention mainly when we are in some way con- reports shows that the subjects’ activities in the
cerned. In the case of this shift, the user becomes built environment are constructed by their percep-
aware of architectural components that are ordina- tion of what this environment ’affords’ them. High-
rily ignored: floors, windows and roofs. An interrup- lighting the subjects’ preferences to act in certain
tion of ordinary routine (in embodiment, climate manners, given the options they had (for instance,
and/or built forms) can attract further attention to which path to follow, which entrance to use, etc.),
architectural characteristics such as colour, texture, indicates that while the physical features of the
mass, transparency, etc. built environment enable the subjects to act, other
(aesthetic) qualities of the environment have influ-
Affordances enced their immediate/instinctive decisions.
When pre-reflective, embodied awareness is drawn Following Gibson’s definition of affordance as
to the architectural surrounding it presents an something that signifies to an individual the possi-
environmental affordance: awareness of the possibi- bility of action within the environment, I emphasise
lities or the potential for bodily action that the that what has driven subjects to favour certain
environment proffers. The psychologist J.J. Gibson actions over others were extended affordance con-
(1979), who coined the term ’ecological psychology’ siderations that are deeply rooted in the subjects’
and promulgated the idea of direct perception, relationships to their environment and exceed
defines ’affordance’ as something that signifies to mere physical adequacy. Close scrutiny of these
an individual the possibility of action within the affordances within the reports reveals that subjects
environment. He stresses the intrinsic connection point to a wide-ranging set of physical-aesthetic
between action, perception and the environment, qualities attributed to the environment such as
and maintains that the information the world openness, warmth, sunlight, etc., as having encour-
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aged (or prevented) them to act. Thus the division possibility’, facing borders and obstacles that
between physical-aesthetic qualities and affordance prevent us from moving forward. Commonly, par-
is not so fundamental, especially if we recall the early ticipants mention: ’if only this new fence wouldn’t
meaning of aesthetic as that which is sensed. There- be here, I could have crossed the field’, ’the tall
fore, in what follows, I regard affordance in respect green railing prevented me from entering the
of the experience of the built environment as the garden’, etc. Here, too, the (im)possibility for
qualities of the environment that guide the subject action leads the subjects to recognise the physical-
action. One of our workshop participants describes aesthetic features of the barrier: its materials,
precisely this experience: height, rhythm, colour, etc.
I chose to go down the open staircase because it
was warm and filled with sunlight, even though The context of attention: The thematic field of
it is not very comfortable with my high heels. architectural/spatial perception
Because the staircase is wide and open and every- If the architectural object, its details and character-
one can see it, I got frightened by the thought of istics, are noticed only as a result of exceptional cir-
stumbling on my way down. I held tight to the cumstances, what aspects of the everyday built
metal handrail, and that forced me to look environment constitute the context of perception?
down at the marble flooring. To put it another way, how is the architectural-
When she later describes leaving the building in the spatial world around us perceived through move-
evening, she briefly mentions ’going upstairs, this ment and other simultaneous daily activities?
time with no danger of falling’. It was only because Whether they depict the outdoor urban experience
of her momentary instability, walking downstairs in or the interior of buildings, a few core-themes, con-
her high-heeled shoes, that she became aware of ceptual and physical, appear frequently throughout
the stairs, and hence the handrail, her body’s position the analysis of the transcriptions: enclosure vs. open-
relative to the sheer glass wall, and the gleaming, slip- ness; exposure and revelation vs. concealment and
pery floors. Going down is not safe, thus the physical obfuscation; ’in’ vs. ’out’; borders and limits; paths
details of her surroundings enter the epicentre of her and intersections; proximity vs. distance; narrowness
attention. The experience of wearing high heels vs. breadth. All these core--themes are, in fact, com-
changed her posture, her sense of balance, her ponents of two fundamental categories that explain
options for movement, and how she perceived her how the built surrounding is perceived: the percep-
surroundings; ie, it changes her affordances. tion of edge and the perception of depth, both of
Moreover, the workshop outcomes clearly indi- which are constructed by the changes entailed in
cate that the perceived affordances signify to the bodily movement. It is important to stress that all
subjects mainly what they cannot do, ie, where it is these core-themes, and the two categories to
impossible to move onward, to cross, to look at, which they belong, are experienced as the context
etc. We are immediately aware of the ’non- of something else. They are not the themes that
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A model for everyday experience of the

built environment: the embodied
perception of architecture
Aya Peri Bader

describe actual experience, and they were men- Thus, in the architectural context, change is inher-
tioned by our respondents (workshop participants) ently connected to movement, and influences,
only tangentially, while intending something else. above all, the perception of the depth of the experi-
enced space. The architectural surroundings are in a
continuous mode of being revealed. This revelatory
Depth—changes in spatiality experience will be considered here in architectural
One of the essential characteristics of the everyday terms, not as a single overwhelming moment of dis-
architectural experience is that it is not comprised covery but as a persistent, though minor, process of
of static perception; it is dynamic, occurring disclosure and enclosure followed by a reassessment
through bodily movement. In this habitual experi- of one’s place in the environment during the daily
ence change plays an important role. In principle, routine. As one student remarked:
the experience of the architectural surrounding is The cypresses protect us from the massive inter-
active: the interplay between the perceiver and the section behind them. I stand on the street
surroundings are in constant flux. The analysis of corner; the whole huge crossroad is visible to me
the transcriptions of familiar, built-environment now: the roads’ shoulders stretch its wide bound-
experiences demonstrates that users perceive archi- aries farther. As I descend down the boulevard it is
tectural space as a path along which to act (and dis- still wide but not as busy and the bustle behind me
regard the architectural object and its façade). From fades. I walk on the sidewalk right along the
first-person reports, it is clear that a primary feature shops; the buildings are only two stories high
in the experience of the built environment is how the and those on the other side of the wide street
perception of it changes through bodily movement, seem so distant and small that it seems that
and what opportunities for action are provided by space continues endlessly. The straight street
this change. becomes increasingly steep; there’s no sign for a
The idea that experience is based on the percep- turn; only the tops of low trees appear on the
tion of depth through embodied changes within horizon. When I finally turn right I go from the
the environment can be found first and foremost ’city’ to the ’village’: the road is narrow with no
in Merleau-Ponty’s Phenomenology of Perception. cars, those that are parked almost seem like part
He explains ’primordial depth’ as a ’pre-objective of the hedge curving over the sidewalk, together
standard of distances and sizes’,27 the way we feel creating a kind of passageway. The noise of
and know the environment ’before any object traffic is gone … I slow down and follow the
arises to provide us with a standard for compari- rhythmic openings in the fence beside me. As
son’.28 Since objects are not merely set next to the yards and houses’ facades are revealed, I
each other but are arranged relative to each other, glance briefly at them, then … I speed up and
primordial depth is uniquely characterised by its look ahead. The street continues to ascend; it is
envelopment or overlap.29 so thickly covered with plants and trees that it
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seems blocked. I climb the little hill and discover and the sky and open horizon, whose ordinary
that the street becomes a wide road—an open, appearance becomes emphasised by the heavy
inviting space. I turn around and walk back canopy of trees, which opens to reveals a mysterious
down the street. wire. Once the obstacles are gone, this observer
Spatiality, as an experience based on embodied remarks, the road continues ’by itself’, without any
movement through the depth of a concrete special attention from her.
space,30 is manifested in daily life through the Hence we can conclude that the experience of
experience of distance and changes: in rhythm and depth and spatiality, a pre-objective way of
directionality of movement, in the physical surround- knowing and feeling the environment, occurs
ings and how they are divulged. Workshop partici- through bodily movement, with no deliberation or
pants referred to ’spatiality’ without describing it focus; it is part of the thematic field. Depth is the
directly; the concept simply evolved out of their context of our attention, sensed immediately as a
embodied and sensory-motor experience. Another manifestation of the built environment’s envelop-
person describes an experience similar to the ment, overlap and enclosure.
above, with an additional perspective:
As the street expands, there are litter bins and piles Edge—movement between in and out
of empty bottles. Everything seems messy; the The research shows that the most fundamental
eucalyptus tree, almost invisible, brings no sense architectural edge perceived is a transition
of harmony or quiet. Even the little square at the between in(side) and out(side); however, this is
end of the street is not calm or peaceful … The usually grasped through changes in embodied per-
street ascends, the wide sidewalk becomes ception, not noticed consciously as part of the archi-
narrow and broken, and I feel less safe. It’s imposs- tectural scenery. In other words, the movement
ible to walk side by side so we are forced to walk between indoors and outdoors has an immediate
one behind the other. I rarely sense the sky: the but subconscious impact that precedes conscious
street is narrow and the trees overhead hide it. acknowledgement of specific physical elements
Leaving the busy centre, the narrow street such as a door, doorstep or threshold. Significantly,
becomes calmer, more peaceful. Heading down subjects’ descriptions indicate that they are aware
the sloping street, the sky is revealed and the of changes in temperature and lighting, while an
horizon opens: a thin wire appears in the sky, con- action such as crossing a threshold usually occurs
necting an electric pole to a house, and it seems without reflective awareness even of the door
like magic. I gaze at the wire and the road goes itself. Similarly, an individual might notice a roof
on by itself; I no longer notice it. above her head by perceiving a change in light or
The experience of depth here is evoked largely by climate conditions (eg, finding a bit of shade on a
the relations between the immediate surrounding hot day, or a spot sheltered from rain). One work-
(eg, the scattered objects, the narrow sidewalk), shop participant put it this way:
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perception of architecture
Aya Peri Bader

Figure 3. The entrance

perceived by embodied
change (photograph).

It was a sunny winter day, and I parked my car This perception of edge as the context of the built
outside the building. As I stood for a few environment experience occurs not only with
minutes on the stone stairs in front of the regard to boundaries between outside and inside;
entrance, the clouds moved and hid the sun, it is a primary perception that accompanies our
and it got colder. I stood waiting in front of the daily movement in space, helping us to navigate
electric door; there is always a few seconds’ and orientate ourselves through the most basic
delay until they open [automatically]. The temp- physical-bodily knowledge and feelings. After
erature always changes when you enter the build- walking down a main commercial avenue and
ing. These little things define the transition into a turning onto a narrower residential street, one of
working state: I am inside, and it is the beginning the workshop participants said:
of a new day. When I reached the big old tree, I turned right and
This description does not mention that she entered left the tumultuous avenue behind me. As I con-
the building, nor does it describe the door. She tinue walking, the sounds of the cars vanished
was outside, the door (apparently) opened and she and I noticed it became quieter; I could hear the
was inside, and all she tells us is that there is a birds twittering. This is a green, suburban-style,
change in temperature. Another workshop residential street … framed by green hedges and
member described the experience of entering the tall overshadowing trees, with family homes
same building thus (Fig. 3 a-c): visible between them. Within all this ’framing’,
The entrance is so shaded that it seems I’m entering something obtrudes: One of the parking lots
a dark place … The round concrete wall leads me opens right onto the sidewalk, creating a big
to the transparent ’technological’ entrance: it dark gap in the enclosing green wall. The shaded
opens by itself! Inside the building I immediately asphalt pavement was a contrast to the continu-
feel cold and I know I’ve left the warm sun outside. ous green fence on my left, and led my way.
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Here, a significant aspect of the residential street the slope, I also notice two odd buildings across
experience is its juxtaposition to the previous urban the street … Laundry hangs from a line on the
setting and the completely different ’framing’ second floor, and the yard is totally overgrown.
experienced there. Our observer turns into a It looks a mess.
narrow, ’domestic’, easily understood street, from These examples demonstrate peoples’ tendency to
a crowded boulevard whose limits are hard to notice the built environment through perceived con-
grasp: its space appears particularly wide relative to trasts (such as the ’hole’ in the green border or the
the low buildings on either side. Thus the sidewalk shadowy path versus the green hedge) and
opposite is completely beyond the experience, and through the bonds they perceive between their
the entire space appears so open to the sky that its bodies and the surroundings (eg, ’the trees "hug"
boundaries seem vague. me’; or ’the sidewalk is so narrow only one person
Another description sheds further light on this can go through’). Such remarks indicate that space
experience. Walking down Main Street, this is experienced through movement without focal
student notes a confusing sense of openness and attention, through what we can term the ’experien-
disorder brought on by ’too much sky’ and a lack tial edge’. This edge is comprised of perceived
of clear borders. The result: a perception of chaos, changes, eg, in light and shadow, in topography
in which details and objects failed to fall coherently and temperature, all of which are experienced
into a unified place: through the enactive, sensual body. This rich
Standing at the corner, my senses are over- concept of edge is an embodied experience that
whelmed. This big intersection feels disorganized exceeds the mere awareness that a boundary
when I see it as a pedestrian. The intersection between ’in’ and ’out’, or from enclosure to open-
itself is open, lacking any trees, and the buildings ness, has been crossed.
are all set back at a distance from the curb, Addressing the dichotomy between ’in’ and ’out’,
making the intersection feel even larger than it the Norwegian architect Thiis-Evensen investigates
is. The buildings themselves are low, not impos- the expressive potential of form. He seeks a universal
ing, aging or dingy … As we pass the bank and architectural experience and a theory of archetypes
turn, the environment becomes a bit quieter. I that proves the existence of ’a common language
can still hear the roar of a small tractor-trailer on of form which we can immediately understand,
the opposite street, but now I can also hear regardless of individual or culture’.31 His analysis of
birds chirping. Around me there are now homes, buildings (eg, the proportions of the façade, struc-
not shops, and most are set back from the road ture, apertures) focuses on what he calls ’spatial deli-
with some sort of privacy or security fence. It is mitations’: floor, wall and roof, and he maintains that
fun to peek in and around the bushes to see these comprise a ’universal architectural experience’
what lies back there … The street ascends slightly of bodily encounters with given environmental
the entire way, and at the same time that I notice phenomena.32 The ’in/out’ dichotomy, he concludes,
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Aya Peri Bader

Figure 4. The glass wall

perceived by the light
and warmth it offers
(photograph).

always generates a concrete, physical and symbolic In the first … edges are at once necessary and
edge. I regard these edges as the substance of the (normally) unobtrusive: such is the bare edge
immediate, pre-reflective perception of architecture. formed when wall meets floor and ceiling, or
Edward S. Casey, who writes extensively on phe- that occurring when a door or window cuts
nomenological investigations of place and space,33 through a wall. We may not even notice these
talks about the concept of edge with special edges, despite their being un-eliminable features
regard to how it appears in architecture, construc- of any built structure … In the second, edges no
tion, habitats and perceptions of built structures.34 longer figure as functional at all, yet they come
Asserting that architecture is ’all about edges’, he forward into our perception with a saliency that
separates the architectural edge into the practical- is lacking in more practical settings … The
functional and the aesthetic: inherent aesthetic attractiveness of such edges
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brings them to a new level of perception and Marginal awareness of architectural surroundings: the
appreciation.35 atmosphere of place
Casey’s distinction, accurate in terms of habitual As described above, the structure of everyday lived
experience, is less significant than it might appear. perception is reciprocity and dynamic structure, in
My study reveals that in the daily experience of archi- which attention shifts from the periphery to the
tectural space: 1) people perceive edges in a pre- centre (ie, from pre-reflective perception to con-
reflective manner through movement and action scious attention), back and forth, as awareness of
even though they generally do not appreciate the surroundings changes. The perception of edge
them on a conscious level; 2) people do not differen- and spatiality as the context of the architectural
tiate between edges that are ’functional’ (eg, experience has also been described. Another layer
frames, intersections of planes) or ’aesthetic’ (eg, of perception is atmosphere, the marginal aware-
curtains, pediments). In describing the interior of a ness of the experience, which involves the subject’s
university building, most workshop participants feelings and emotions before there is any awareness
referred to the huge glass wall that provides daylight of architectural form. An immediate, pre-reflective
for its main entrances and stairwell (Fig. 4). All of the sense of the surrounding atmosphere influences,
descriptions acknowledge the light and warmth the reflects and sometimes even derives from the
wall allows in and the view it offers of the garden; in user’s emotions and prior experiences.
fact, most of them noted that they preferred to walk The relationships between built components,
the longer route by way of this wall rather than lights and shadows, materials and volumes, and
taking the lift, hoping to warm up in the sunlight between these and the user’s body, combined
and prolong the feeling of being outdoors. Only a with the user’s intentions, emotions and recollec-
couple of the participants mentioned the rhythm tions, are all part and parcel of the built surround-
of the small panes that divide the glass wall, their ing’s specific atmosphere. Although the literature
vivid turquoise frames, or the words engraved on often relates to ’atmosphere’ in a vague, almost
them. offhand, way (regarding, for example, interior or
Thus we may conclude that edge is most often stage design), my research indicates that atmos-
experienced when it signifies change, and it is phere is, in fact, the main constituent in the daily
largely perceived in a pre-conceptual way through experience of a familiar built surrounding.
embodiment. In everyday architectural experience Talking about their everyday environment, our
the details of edges, whether functional or aesthetic, workshop participants invariably discussed ‘mood’
are not the object of focal attention. Irrelevant to and ‘ambience’ long before they mentioned con-
bodily movement and action, they remain unno- crete physical features or details (sometimes
ticed, stashed away in the user’s marginal aware- without mentioning the latter at all). Describing
ness, which we will now discuss. how she enters her home street, one said:
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On the way I get used to the quiet rhythm of the and internal associations in the environment
place. Gradually the sounds change; you no occasionally depart from its actual physical state,
longer hear the sounds of the highway and the reflecting instead the subject’s feelings and inten-
cars tooting; stillness takes over. A festive holy-day tions. Talking about his daily routine of arriving for
feeling arises from the windows of the houses, as classes, for instance, one student would obviously
if everyone is waiting for guests or for loved ones have preferred to stay outdoors on the sunny lawn
to come back home. Slowly sounds return, and having a cup of coffee with friends. He elaborated:
from the garden I hear the voices of visiting grand- Between me and the beckoning lawn there is a
children. Someone is playing music; there are long distance where a wide promenade of
sounds of cooking. I walk straight into the most col- rough stone appears like an impassable border.
ourful, most fragrant and noisiest house … I would At the other side of the pleasant relaxing lawn
get there easily even if my eyes were closed. stands the shaded entrance of the building, so
During this long walk home, the sounds and smells shady it’s like entering a dark place. Standing in
clearly reflect her feelings about homecoming; the middle of a concrete cylinder, the entrance
there is no consideration of the built objects except seems to draw me from every direction, as if
as a basis for her projections (eg, the windows). trying to convince me to enter and never leave
As in previous descriptions, one notable aspect of … A curved concrete wall leads me towards the
the suburban/domestic street experience is its translucent door, which opens automatically. I
marked contrast to an urban setting. It is clearly have no choice but to walk inside and leave the
affected, moreover, by the user’s anticipation and lawn behind.
expectations, integrated into her subjective concept Another workshop participant, a first-year student,
of ’home’. These examples all point to the tendency was clearly feeling both excitement and anxiety
to perceive the built environment in terms of its con- about his whole university experience. An analysis
trast or similarity to other environments, and to exag- of his report reveals an ongoing sense of confusion,
gerate features congruent to the place’s atmosphere. of having become lost: the building’s entrance
In other words, if the environment is envisioned as seems ’concealed’, the studio’s white walls seem
’home’, the user can ’remember’ children laughing, ’high and grey’ as if they are ’made of stone’. The
birds chirping, cooks clattering and laundry hanging same walls, he says, ’conceal something behind
on washing lines although none of these actually them’, while all the doors seem ’hidden’, and his
existed at that particular moment. own studio seems ’invisible and isolated’. He
In all the statements about the built experience relaxes somewhat only when he reaches the cafe-
that we analysed, the core-theme of atmosphere teria, where the familiar scents of coffee and
emerges through cumulative, subjective and baked goods, the warm dark colours of the walls
emotionally-biased descriptions of the built environ- and the sound of music create a more reassuring
ments. These descriptions of the qualities, objects environment.
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Walking down the same path into the university nence of the physical presence participating in space
building, another student recounts: through bodily movement: ’This participation is an
The glass doors slide open and I enter a space that affective tendency by which our mood is attuned
feels somehow tilted … It is the stairway that pulls to the nature of a space, to its atmosphere.’37 He
me downward, tilts me forward, makes me feel suggests defining ’mood’ as the feeling of ’being-
like I am falling … I always feel awkward going in-something’ (ie, in the architectural space), a
down those stairs, as though it is taking me too sense of ’whereness’: in essence, the atmospheric
long to reach my destination … The white, character of the space surrounding us.
circus-tent roof feels like a perpetual cloud While Pallasmaa regards atmosphere as the
cover. The open, outdoor space beside the café unique, memorable character and identity of a
adds to the confusion: It is a rooftop terrace, but place, and refers to this quality mainly in terms of
I am now below the entrance floor. ‘great’ and ‘powerful’ architecture,38 I would
As manifested in these descriptions, the notions of suggest that his account refers to only one narrow
’exposure’/’exposed’ and its opposite, ’closed’/ aspect of atmosphere. My research indicates that
’hidden’, along with such terms as ’confusion’, an atmospheric sense of place exists in almost
’warmth’, etc., are all employed as emotional- every encounter of a human being with the world;
mental judgements that in effect pertain to it is the initial, basic and pre-reflective mode of that
’whether or not I feel comfortable’. Hence the encounter. Atmosphere is not a rare element of per-
mental contents of the experience do not always ception, sensed only when confronting a particularly
match its physical context. To put it differently, the sublime, notable or memorable work of architecture;
description of the experience contains emotions, rather it indicates, on the most fundamental level,
attitudes and evaluations which are by no means whether the user feels that a place is benign (safe,
derived from the built surrounding alone. Pallasmaa comfortable, welcoming) or malign (threatening,
defines atmosphere as the perceptual, sensory and dangerous, rejecting). Indeed, atmosphere can be
emotive impression of a setting, which provides considered a unique spatial sense that integrates
the unifying coherence and character of a place. In all five known senses in embodied movement.
the light of this research I conclude, as he does, According to Pallasmaa, ’we grasp the atmos-
that atmosphere is recognised within the marginal phere of a place before we identify its details or
perception of architecture: ’Indeed, the immediate understand it intellectually … we may be unable to
judgement of the character of space calls for our say anything meaningful about [its characteristics]’,
entire embodied sense, and it is perceived in a yet have a firm image, an emotive response and an
diffuse and peripheral manner rather than through object of recollection.39 The atmosphere of a
precise and conscious observation’.36 place, the broad experience of a built surrounding,
Similarly, Böhme emphasises that architectural cannot be separated from evocations and memories.
perception and evaluation occur through the imma- This notion suggests an interesting attentional shift:
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Aya Peri Bader

atmosphere is grasped without reflection, before trayed in sensual and emotional terms: there is ’not
conscious identification, intellectual understanding enough light’; ‘it’s too dark’; it’s stuffy since there’s
or reflection, yet when it arouses emotions or mem- ’no fresh air’; the fabric of a cosy sofa is ’itchy’ while
ories it becomes something we consciously recog- a soft wool carpet ’caresses’ his feet. Here, too, he
nise and acknowledge. talks mainly about his actions: he ’opens’, ’brings
in’, ’pushes’, ’turns around’, etc., with no reference
Going home to the built surrounding other than the too-heavy
Every single description analysed of the daily experi- shutters, and the ’hard concrete floor’ where the
ence of going to and arriving at home has a common dog is jauntily stepping.
structure and components. ’Going home’ is an No matter how attentive our subjects may have
experience ’wrapped’ in anticipation and desire. been on their way home, once they enter their
While the route home evokes different kinds of homes, their most familiar and known spaces,
awareness of the environment, everything changes where no orientation is necessary, the physical build-
upon actually entering. In terms of perception, the ing and its architecture seem to vanish. The built
experience of entering and being at home contains space is totally ignored; only the textures, colours
almost nothing but actions and (small) personal and scents of personal belongings exist (Fig. 5).
objects; there is no objective recognition or appreci- Following a long description of her home’s front
ation of the larger built surrounding. garden and the porch, another student described
For example, someone on the way home may her entry into the house. She noticed its sounds
refer to the topography of the street, specific build- and smells, mentioned the bright light and her hap-
ings, traffic conditions and so on. The moment s/he piness on seeing her family:
arrives home, however, its home-like characteristics After going through every corner, hearing and
take centre stage. One person describes his progress telling stories of the day, I need to be by myself. I
through the building as he climbs the interior stairs, go down four stairs, then another two steps to
the actions he performs and the personal objects he my ’hideaway’. For a minute I am outside of the
encounters. His story, however, mentions not a house, and only a door separates the outside
single building component, no structural features from my own private home space. I open the
such as size or scale, no details such as texture or door and close it behind me; now no one will enter.
colour. Another person, after providing a long, elab- We have absolutely no information regarding the
orate description of his route home (including pave- height, width, colours, apertures or other physical
ments and fences, scale and relations, memories and features of her private, closed room. Instead, she
feelings), enters his home and the nature of his nar- detailed her activities there, emphasising her per-
rative immediately changes. This is a categorical sonal belongings (and their unique [dis]order on
change: unlike the built surroundings that he has the floor, bed and chair). In keeping with such
previously described, the interior of his home is por- descriptions, Pallasmaa writes: ’The experience of
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Figure 5. At home:
personal belongings
and series of actions
(photographs).

home is structured by distinct activities … not by speaking of ’the act of entering the room and not
visual elements’.40 Using Alvar Aalto’s insight on of the formal design of the porch or the door’, Pallas-
the ’verb-essence’ of architectural experience, maa writes:
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Aya Peri Bader

Basic architectural experiences have a verb form experience, however, are sparse. My research reveals
rather than being a noun … Architectural experi- that this experience usually takes place without con-
ence consists then, for instance, of approaching centration or a focus on the architectural surround-
or confronting a building, rather than the formal ings, but is significant nevertheless: it helps users
apprehension of a facade; of the act of entering, evaluate a place in a pre-reflective manner while
and not simply the visual design of the door; of they are in motion and their thoughts are directed
looking in or out through a window, rather than elsewhere.
the window itself as a material object; or of occu- My research reveals that one’s own home is a
pying the sphere of warmth, rather than the fire- unique example of LEBEN: it is perceived through
place as an object of visual design.41 complete obliviousness to the built environs, but
with full awareness of one’s personal effects and
VI Conclusion actions.
LEBEN, my model for the lived experience of the built Further research could translate this model into an
(architectural) environment in daily life, is based on operational mode, paving the way for architects,
phenomenological writings, on a previous model educators and designers to understand better how
for consciousness and attention and on my own the planned and built environment is experienced
applied research. It aims to bridge the gap that by its users. This, in turn, will have an impact on
exists between the prevailing approach of architects how these professionals approach their projects
and designers and the actual experience of the user- and the techniques they use. Taking into consider-
perceiver within the built surroundings, and to ation the everyday experience of architecture
widen our understanding regarding the mundane through the LEBEN model, further research might
phenomenon. I analysed first-person descriptions investigate how this experience is influenced by
of everyday perceptual experience of familiar-habit- usage (eg, normative vs. exceptional), by the inter-
ual built environments, compared them with docu- section of culture with emotions and expectations,
mentation of the actual surroundings and with and how architecture may actually shape its users’
phenomenological concepts regarding architectural preferences and expectations of their built, urban
space, and integrated all of these into the structure environment.
and components of LEBEN.
I have no doubt that architecture can and should Acknowledgements
provide exceptional experiences that stimulate the I would like to thank Alba Montes Sanchez, David
senses, evoke emotional and intellectual responses, Seamon, Carsten Thau, David Leatherbarrow and
and contribute to the creation of ethical and beauti- Eran Neuman for discussions, encouragement and
ful environments. These are all appropriate issues for feedback on earlier versions of this paper. I am
research and have been discussed widely in the pro- deeply grateful to Dorit Fershtman, Oren Bader,
fessional literature. Studies of everyday architectural Barbara Gingold and the anonymous referees for
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helpful comments and suggestions on a more recent merely a consciousness but a perceiving body, which
draft of this paper. I did part of the research for this embraces and constitutes the world, pp. 239, 353–4;
paper during my stay as a visiting scholar at the see also his ’Exploring the World of Perception:
Space’, in World of Perception (Causeries), Oliver
Center for Subjectivity Research (CFS), UCPH in
Davis, transl. (New York, Routledge, Taylor and
2012. I owe special thanks to Dan Zahavi for valu-
Francis, 2002 [1948]), pp. 8–9).
able discussion and generous hospitality.
4. A. Gurwitsch, The Field of Consciousness (Pittsburgh,
All the diagrams and photographs presented in Duquesne University Press, 1964), p. 22.
the paper are original products by the Author. 5. A. Gurwitsch, Studies in Phenomenology and Psychol-
ogy (Evanston, Northwestern University Press, 1966),
Notes and references pp. 267–8.
1. W. Benjamin, ’The Work of Art in the Age of Its Tech- 6. See, for instance: P. S. Arvidson, ’Attention in Context’
nological Reproducibility’ (2nd version, 1936), in, , in, S. Gallagher, D. Schmicking, eds, Handbook of
E. Howard, M. W. Jennings, eds, Walter Benjamin: Phenomenology and Cognitive Science (Dordrecht,
Selected Writings, Vol. 3, 1935–1938 (Cambridge, Springer, 2010); ‘Experimental Evidence for Three
Harvard University Press, 2002) pp. 101–133. Dimensions of Attention’, in, L. Embree, ed., Gur-
2. Although the genealogy of the concept of the every- witsch’s Relevancy for Cognitive Science, Contributions
day can be traced back to antiquity, it gained its to Phenomenology, Vol. 52 (Dordrecht, Springer,
current meaning only by the end of nineteenth 2004), pp. 151–168.
century. Through everyday life theories, the concept 7. P. S. Arvidson, The Sphere of Attention: Context and
of ’everyday space’ took a socio-political turn highly Margin (Dordrecht, Springer, 2006), pp. 188–9.
influenced by H. Lefebvre, The Production of Space 8. Ibid., p. 2.
(Oxford, Blackwell, 1991 [1974]) and Critique of 9. Investigating everyday environmental experience,
Everyday Life (London,Verso, 2002 [1961]) as well Seamon describes the conscious and pre-conscious
as M. de Certeau, The Practice of Everyday Life encounter with the world as a continuum between
(Steven Rendall, transl. (Berkeley, University of Cali- mergence and separateness, where he finds graduated
fornia Press, 1984). experiential states characterised by various degrees of
3. From a phenomenological perspective, experience is conscious attention: D. Seamon, A Geography of the
formed by the perceiving body that moves, senses Lifeworld: Movement, Rest and Encounter (London,
and has a certain size, position and directionality. In Croom Helm Ltd, 1979). What he calls ’basic-contact’
the Phenomenology of Perception Colin Smith, transl. (pp. 115–7) is a mode of encounter between the
(New York, Routledge, 2002 [1945]), the French philo- world and the individual that takes place while the
sopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty maintains that our user is in a state of pre-conscious attention unless
embodiment brings to our perceptual experience an something changes in the familiar environment and
a priori structure since ’the [lived] body is our general jolts it into the user’ consciousness. My model is
medium for having a world’, p. 169 and that in order based on the reciprocity structure offered by Gur-
to understand and describe human experience, it witsch, which enables the coexistence of categorical
should first be recognised that each of us is not differences and different modes of attention. This
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perception of architecture
Aya Peri Bader

dynamic triadic interchangeable relationship is essen- from the texts and comparing them with related
tial for understanding everyday experience of the theoretical notions. The reports were examined in
built environment. search for clear subjective descriptions, such as pro-
10. I thank Dan Zahavi for helping me to address this ques- fessional knowledge and unusual emotional
tion. expressions. In that way, although subjective differ-
11. Following Varela et al., I use ’enactive’ to mean that ences were found, I can explain their origins and
perception is inherent or based in perceptually effects, and track the similarities that appeared in
guided action and the sensory-motor patterns that the depictions.
enable this action. In broad terms, ‘embodied’ means 15. C. Moustakas, Phenomenological Research Methods
that knowledge and perception depend on and are (London, Sage, 1994), pp. 120–1.
comprised of experiences that result from the fact 16. The validation of the invariant constituents and their
that one has a body with various sensory and motor accompanying theme was done by checking them
capacities: J. F. Varela, E. Thompson, et al., The Embo- against the complete transcription: (a) are they
died Mind: Cognitive Science and Human Experience expressed explicitly in the complete transcription? (b)
(Cambridge, Mass., The MIT Press, 1991), pp. 172–4. are they compatible if not explicitly expressed? If they
For more on the broad discussion of the importance were not explicit or compatible, they were not relevant
of embodiment for understanding cognition, see, to the participant’s experience and were deleted (fol-
among others: L. Shapiro, Embodied Cognition (Abing- lowing C. Moustakas, ibid.).
don, Taylor and Francis, 2011); S. Gallagher, D. Zahavi, 17. G. Semper, The Four Elements of Architecture and
The Phenomenological Mind: An Introduction to Phil- Other Writings (Cambridge, Cambridge University
osophy of Mind and Cognitive Science (Abingdon, Press, 1989 [1851]).
Routledge, Taylor and Francis, 2008); S. Gallagher, 18. T. Thiis-Evensen, Archetypes in Architecture (Oxford,
How the Body Shapes the Mind (Oxford, TheClarendon Oxford University Press, 1989).
Press, 2005). 19. S. Holl, J. Pallasmaa, et al., Questions of Perception:
12. The workshop took place during the Spring semester, Phenomenology of Architecture (San Francisco,
2012, at the Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning William Stout Publishers, 1994).
of the Technion I.I.T, in collaboration with Iris Aravot. 20. G. Böhme, ’Atmosphere as the Subject Matter of
Twelve students participated in the workshop (six Architecture’, in, P. Ursprung, ed., J. Herzog and
undergraduates and six graduates, six men and six P. de Meuron: Natural Histories (Zurich, Lars Müller
women). I am grateful to the participants for sharing Publishers, 2005), pp. 398–406.
their experiences and thoughts with me. 21. D. Leatherbarrow, Architecture Oriented Otherwise
13. An exception was made in the workshop’s last task for (New York, Princeton Architectural Press, 2009).
which the students were asked in advance to describe 22. See J. Pallasmaa, ’Space, Place and Atmosphere: Per-
their ’going home’ experience. ipheral Perception in Existential Experience’, personal
14. My research attempts to characterise the multi-subjec- correspondence, 2011, later published in Lebenswelt.
tive experience, thus all the participants experienced Aesthetics and Philosophy of Experience, no. 4.1
the same locations at the same time. I use the analytic (2014), pp. 230–245; G. Böhme, ’Atmosphere as the
method in extracting the main concepts and themes Subject Matter of Architecture’, op. cit.
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23. J.J. Gibson, The Ecological Approach to Visual 33. See: E. S. Casey, The World at a Glance (Bloomington,
Perception (Hillsdale, NJ, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Indiana University Press, 2007); The Fate of Place: A
Publishers, 1986 [1979]). Philosophical History (Berkeley, Los Angeles, London,
24. W. Benjamin, ’The Work of Art in the Age of Its Tech- University of California Press, 1997).
nological Reproducibility’, op. cit., pp. 119–20. 34. E. S. Casey, ’Finding Architectural Edge in the Wake of
25. As opposed to static pictorial display: see J.J. Gibson, Merleau-Ponty’, in, P. Locke, R. McCann, eds, Merleau-
The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception, op. Ponty: Space, Place, and Architecture (forthcoming;
cit., pp. 52–4, 205–6. personal correspondence, 2011).
26. Ibid., p. 134. 35. Ibid., pp. 6–7; italics added by this Author.
27. M. Merleau-Ponty, Phenomenology of Perception, 36. J. Pallasmaa, ’Space, Place and Atmosphere’, op. cit.,
Colin Smith, transl. (New York, Routledge, Taylor and p. 231; italics added by this Author.
Francis, 2002[1945]), p. 257. 37. G. Böhme, ’Atmosphere as the Subject Matter of
28. Ibid., p. 266; cf. also E. S. Casey, Getting Back Into Place Architecture’, op. cit., p. 403.
(Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1993), p. 338; 38. J. Pallasmaa, The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and the
fn. 89. Senses (Chichester, Wiley Academy, 2012 [1996]),
29. Ibid., E. S. Casey, Getting Back Into Place, p. 68. pp. 48, 55–56, 60.
30. D. Leatherbarrow, Architecture Oriented Otherwise, 39. J. Pallasmaa, ’Space, Place and Atmosphere’, op. cit.,
op. cit., p. 243. p. 232; italics added by this Author.
31. T. Thiis-Evensen, Archetypes in Architecture, op. cit., p. 17. 40. J. Pallasmaa, The Eyes of the Skin, op. cit., p. 68.
32. Ibid., p. 25. The experiences of the built surroundings 41. Ibid., citing A. Aalto, ’From the Doorstep to the
are described in terms of the elements’ characteristics: Common Room’, in, G. Schildt, ed., Alvar Aalto: The
motion (its dynamic nature), weight (heaviness-gravity) Early Years (New York, Rizzoli International Publi-
and substance (materiality). cations, 1984), pp. 214–218.