To Evince Atmospheres

Though architecture is rooted in the physicality of built form, it transcends into the realms of the intangible, ephemeral and perceptive. In architecture, these immaterial characteristics imbued within a place are more accurately described as its ‘atmosphere.’ Despite the wealth of literature regarding the relevance of atmosphere as an architectural concept, in practice it has been deliberately reduced to a condition of constant neutrality. Atmosphere has here been defined as the character of place, encompassing a set of variables, distinguishing it from that of any other location. The atmosphere of a place emerges as the totality of these variables. This definition further suggests the presence of an atmosphere preceding the existence of built-form. Therefore, this thesis proposes that the spatial atmosphere of architecture should be defined by its engagement with these contextual variables, rather than through the fabrication of an artificial atmosphere, by redefining the boundary as a gradient threshold.