Reading the image/atmosphere effects of architectural design at the interface of macrocosm/microcosm through the concept of "dwelling"

The German philosopher Martin Heidegger (1889-1976), who raised a specific conception of dwelling within the circumstances of his time, left significant marks on the 20th century architectural theory. Since then, technology and perception of the world, which have undergone an accelerated process of development, altered the ways by which the humankind has perceived the concepts of place, time, space and speed. Departing from the above mentioned transformations, this study analyses the current continuities and counterparts of the concepts and discussions introduced by Heidegger regarding the architecture of the 20th century and discusses the conditions which enable architecture to lay the ground for dwelling in the context of the 21st century. Although the concept of dwelling is directly associated with the function of sheltering, all architectural works, including those other than housing structures, affect humankind's dwelling, namely the process through which humans attribute meaning to their environment by means of spatial experience and thus ground their existence. All kinds of architectural productions constructed at the interface of macrocosm - microcosm produce their own interfaces where humans encounter the built environment at different scales. These interfaces also encompass the conditions of experience which structure daily life. For the realization of dwelling by means of architectural design in the contexts of various functions, the interrelation between human and architecture should involve experiential richness in physical, mental, sensory and perceptual terms. Besides, the interfaces, which establish the stages of such multidimensional experience, should be configured with reference to place and time. In the light of the conceptual discussion summarized above, in this thesis, the different scales through which human encounters architecture are defined in reference to the concepts of microcosm and macrocosm. In this framework, the interfaces of encounter related with the conception of dwelling in the scale of macrocosm are explained with reference to the concept of image, while the interfaces of encounter in the scale of microcosm are explained with reference to the concept of atmosphere. Within the scope of the thesis, the design criterion that enable the development of the concept of dwelling at the interfaces of human – architecture encounter in macrocosm-microcosm scales are defined as sensitivity regarding physical environment, sensitivity regarding cultural memory, experiential potential of mass-space configuration, tectonic consciousness and potentials of sensory contact. By investigating the examples of contemporary architecture in terms of the design criterion defined in this theoretical framework, this thesis examines the required qualifications of the interfaces of human – architecture encounter for the realization of dwelling in the context of the 21st century. KEYWORDS: Architectural Atmosphere, Architectural Image, Dwelling, Macrocosm, Microcosm, Place