Atmospheric Conditions: Architecture that Matters - A Public Lecture by David Leatherbarrow

Atmospheric Conditions: Architecture that Matters

One of the most interesting developments in contemporary architecture is the rejection of object-oriented designs in favor of approaches that see the building as enmeshed in a wider milieu. Architects we might view as opposed to one another – Jean Nouvel, Peter Zumthor, Kengo Kuma and Adam Caruso – can be seen to occupy common ground when their arguments for an architecture of “atmospheres” are considered together. The aim of this talk was to describe this common ground and show its role in contemporary practice. Using Goethe’s poetry, the paintings of Constable and Turner, and Ruskin on the Truth of Clouds, David Leatherbarrow also explained the historical formation of this idea, in architecture and other arts, and the sciences. Prof Leatherbarrow stressed on the mutuality of internal and external conditions in the constitution of a setting’s communicative sense, and hope to show that architecture integrates natural and cultural conditions in ways that make spatial settings both intelligible and enjoyable.

David Leatherbarrow is one of the most eminent architectural scholars in the US, and author of numerous influential books, especially “On Weathering: The Life of Buildings in Time” (written with Mohsen Mostafavi), “Topographical Stories”, “Uncommon Ground”, “Roots of Architectural Invention”, and others. As director of the PhD Program at the University of Pennsylvania, he has shaped the research orientation of many prominent scholars and historians in architecture. His own contributions have enriched the field of architectural phenomenology with questions of how architecture appears, how architecture is perceived, and how topography shapes architecture.

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This event is open and free to attend, no registration/rsvp is required.