Atmospheric Architectures

Gernot Böhme is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at Darmstadt Technical University, Germany, and founder and director of the Institute for Practical Philosophy in Darmstadt.A.-Chr. Engels-Schwarzpaul (editor and translator) is Professor in Spatial Design and Postgraduate Studies at Auckland University of Technology - Te Wananga Aronui o Tamaki Makau Rau, in Auckland, Aotearoa/New Zealand.

• Foreword: ‘Ecstasies’ by Professor Mark Dorrian (University of Edinburgh)Towards the Inside of Atmospheres: Translator’s IntroductionAtmosphere, a basic concept of a new aestheticNew AestheticsBenjamin’s auraThe concept of atmosphere in Hermann Schmitz’ philosophyThe ecstasies of thingsMaking atmospheresThe critical potential of an aesthetics of atmospheresConclusionThe Ecstasies of Things: Ontology and aesthetics of thingnessSubjectivism in aestheticsTerminological differentiationsThe prevalence of the thing in ontologyLife within the world of thingsThe closure of the thing within the main ontological modelsAlternative thing modelsThe ThingConclusion: Ontology and aestheticsMaterial Splendour: A Contribution to the Critique of Aesthetic EconomyA golden ladleMaterial aestheticsMaterial beautyParticle boardInternal design and invisible aestheticsContribution to the critique of aesthetic economyAtmospheres in ArchitectureWeather and feelingsArchitecture and felt spaceAtmospheres as the subject matter of architectureThe perception of architectureArchitecture and spaceThe atmosphere of a cityConclusionThe Presence of Living Bodies in SpaceDevelopments in architecture and art historyWhat is the space of bodily presence?DispositionActuality and realityAtmospheres of Human CommunicationThe utterly familiarRadianceActualisation and disturbance of interpersonal atmospheresContributionsLearning to Live with Atmospheres: A new Aesthetic Humanist EducationObjectives of aesthetic educationSchiller’s On the aesthetic education of man in a series of lettersAesthetic humanist education under the conditions of technical civilisation and aesthetic economyAtmosphere as the object and medium of aesthetic educationThe Grand Concert of the WorldIntroductionModern art and the aesthetics of atmospheresThe aesthetic conquest of acoustic spaceMusic and soundscape, or the music of the soundscapeAcoustic atmospheresConclusionThe Voice in Spaces of Bodily PresenceSpatial soundsThe rehabilitation of the voiceThe voice as an articulation of bodily presenceConclusionLight and SpaceThe phenomenology of light Cleared spaceThe space of lightLights in spaceThings appearing in lightLight on thingsLightingThe Art of Staging as a Paradigm for an Aesthetics of AtmospheresProducing atmospheresAtmosphere – a well-known but extremely vague phenomenonAesthetics of reception and productionFantastic art/unreliable fabricationConclusion: the art of stagingChurch AtmospheresThe numinous and the profanization of church spacesSacred twilight – diaphanous lightSilence and the SublimeStone and spaceGenius LociAfterword: ‘Atmospheres to Think About’ by Professor David Leatherbarrow (University of Pennsylvania) ReferencesIndex

A fascinating collection of essays by the German philosopher Gernot Böhme . . . the essays are thoughtfully translated, and usefully introduced, in a way that will make Bohme’s work accessible and engaging to a wide audience. The message of the book is inspirational in its shift from the study of objects toward experience, and it will sit nicely among similarly motivated titles in Bloomsbury Academic’s impressively burgeoning architecture library.