Atmosphere as a social commentary

The first quote on the first page of Peter Zumthor’s text “Atmospheres” is a notion that I had never thought about before. It states, “Atmosphere is my style” JMW Turner to John Ruskin in 1844. With the modern trend of architecture being somewhat of an object rather than an atmosphere, I believe that Zumthor has consistently emphasized the importance of the spatial quality of architecture through his work and the details that make up his work. I have been asked the question “what’s your style?” before and never really knew how to answer except to name other architects that inspire me.

Atmosphere as a style, however, is a unique perspective on design and I think can be socially and politically relevant. We all know that Peter Zumthor’s architecture is not for the thrifty-minded, but this idea can be applied to design on any level no matter the budget. Good design should create a certain atmosphere through the interior space where people want to be. This type of architecture can be transformative and allow for the “real world” to exist with it. Zumthor strives to create architecture like this and believes that he himself can achieve this because “there are good things and there are not so good things in the world”. What I think he means by this is that all of these things, good or bad, can exist in one space and that’s what creates the atmosphere. The existence of these things I think is fully reflective of culture and the social/political aspects of a place.