FERN HOCKLEY-TELLES
N0483444 - Interior Architecture + Design
STARTING POINT
Through this research, I am primarily investigating the phenomenology of architectural materials, in order to establish if and how a material can affect a person’s emotional experience within a space. In particular, I want to find out if there is a certain material that has a significant calming and spiritual influence on people.
In addition to this, my study explores the role of senses and perception within architecture; do our senses primarily influence our emotion, or is the development of perception based on multiple factors? From understanding the relationship between materials and our senses, it might be possible to establish how a phenomenological experience is produced.
If materials are a key influence in atmosphere and experience, is this a result of how their physical attributes are sensed and perceived by humans, or of how it has been placed architecturally? For example, could cladding a classroom with timber aid concentration and if so, is this because of how we connect to its natural smell and texture, or because of how it is designed with consideration to its setting, its context, its scale and its finish?
AIMS
I hope to understand how the many aspects of architecture, particularly materiality, can create and enhance experience for users. Following this, I will examine firstly the role of senses and human perception in a phenomenological experience, and then the character of specific materials. A range of materials will be looked at, both in terms of their individual aesthetic and mechanical properties, and as part of a whole architectural space or setting, in order to ascertain whether some are more likely to evoke a particular feeling, or heighten a complete emotional experience.
OBJECTIVES - METHODS
In order to fulfill my aims, I have looked at, and personally experienced, examples of phenomenological architecture with varying materiality, and the role of its emotive components. I have researched the different applications of senses within architecture, what builds individual human perceptions, and examined people’s feelings about different materials based on both their own experiences and the individual properties of these substances. My primary method of research has been to visit case study architecture and evaluate the experience through my own sketches, graphic impressions and memory, whilst my secondary methods have involved the study and analysis of a mix of websites, books, journals and videos.
LIMITATIONS
Phenomenology: This as a subject could be a limitation in itself due to the vast number of ideas, theories and influences within it, all of which are largely subjective. For example, there are many possibilities as to why we feel the way we do within a piece of architecture, and many more suggestions of how to influence this with design: The way we use our vision and mind as we interact with a building has been put forward as a main influence in phenomenology, as well as the engaging of certain senses, the use of form, light and shadows etc. I have chosen to focus on materiality and, though these other subjects may come into my research, I will need to prevent myself from veering too far into a different direction of phenomenology.
The main problem with my research is that I am trying to find out how a material can affect a person emotionally, and this of course, is entirely subjective. What one person may feel when interacting with timber may be what another person experiences when interacting with steel. Consequently, I have chosen to focus my primary research on my own experiences, and when observing the behaviour of others, I have had to assume a simplified idea of what they may be experiencing.