Emancipating the eye : the creation of atmosphere within music and architecture

Abstract

Defined by a desire for impulsive production, instantaneous consumption and constant visual stimulation, the condition that our modern society finds itself in today has fostered an increasing separation of self from the world around us. Architecture, no longer driven by a desire to resonate with the cosmos, has left us inhabiting built environments that are not only of weak atmospheric quality but further devoid of any meaningful connection between body and place. This physical and psychological disassociation finds origin during modernity’s dictatorial emphasis on visual form and function. Regarded as both naive and romantic, the consideration of emotion, sensory stimuli and atmosphere were reasoned to be non-essential constituents of environmental experience. As a result, studies of our sensory engagement with the environments around us have become preoccupied with the concepts of focused perception and static gaze. This position is a reaction to the exceptional conditions of our current lived reality and continues to deny the possibility of architecture to cultivate its fundamental ability to mediate between people and place. With the aim of addressing the notion of atmosphere within the architectural design process, this dissertation draws upon the parallels between the phenomenological connection between music and architecture and the commonalities within their design processes. The study is based on an understanding that musicians are aware of their ability to evoke, articulate and sustain a specific emotion which creates a powerful progression within their narrative.