Phenomenology, in my understanding relates to a sensory and mental response to the built

environment - more simply, how does the building or space make you feel. This can be achieved through
material, texture, light, color or the entire form or a combination of these ‘phenomena’ to produce
these reactions. The reaction is thought through from the very beginning of the design process to stir
the sensorial primal soup.

The process can be best explained in the words of Neil Leach - "There's a tendency to associate
architects whose work engages the senses (vision, touch, sound, smell) with phenomenology, but I think
one of the key things to phenomenology is that: basically, space is physically experienced, but is *not
just physical space*, it's mental too. In other words, our experience of a space happens in our
imaginations as much as in physical reality. It's that, there is a very real meaning to space, that because
we are basically animals that are spatial, space as it is conceived and interpreted and understood
through the experience of the occupant is as real as the physical built "bricks and mortar". Physical
space is linked to a mental space through human experience. A lot of the time, people will talk about the
experience of the space. So how it is used matters as much as what it is made of."

Phenomenology states that rather than the a priori meaning of "I" and "object" the meaning derived
from experience is the primary driver of being. For example, it is not that the church has meaning in and
of itself (it may, but it matters little), it matters in that it's where you got married or christened there for
example. Phenomenology is not simply the study of the representations of objects as they appear
(phenomena) to us but also the study of our perception, intended and directed towards these objects. It
is not just how about how objects reach towards us but equally about how, and under which conditions
(intrinsic and extrinsic) we reach towards these objects.

As applied to architectural design by Holl, Zumthor, etc., phenomenology has meant a re-emphasis on
the direct perception of space, light, and materiality in the environmental experience. This is in reaction
to the extensive symbolism of Postmodernism and the rationalism of modernism. Architects had lost
touch with the immediate pleasures of simply experiencing a beautiful place or object.

I feel phenomenology in architecture offers a critique of current architectural practice of representing

architecture as a "pretty picture” wherein all the media we see today is about the image of architecture
as an icon, not the reality of it. Architecture has become today too dependent on the visual experience.
It has been observed as “the unending rainfall of images” by Italo Calvino, “image addiction” by Richard
Kearney, “the civilization of the image” by Roland Barthes and “the society of spectacle” by Guy Debord.

The final aim, in my opinion, is to create a more livable, habitable and socially responsible architecture.
In practice, applying phenomenology is difficult because it is a theory not a process – its success in use
cannot be projected ahead of time and is highly dependent on the end user. This is due to the fact that
Phenomenology is about an "Ego" experiencing "Phenomena". As this "Ego" is just an abstract idea of
consciousness, it turns out to be too abstract for an architectural process.

Real architecture is about a human body experiencing a place though sights, sounds, smells, touch,
movement, sitting, dwelling, memory and relations. Architecture is an experience, therefore designing
for a real human body to experience a real place, and to augment and enhance the experience is still an
application of phenomenology.
This optimization of user experience is already widely in use in marketing – for example, at Starbucks. At
Starbucks, you are buying an experience. Customers pay for the look and feel of the shops; they like to
order on mobile; they like to have their name taken so that they can be called by name afterwards
(makes you feel like you are connected and surrounded by friends); they like to be part of a community
of people working (basically living) at Starbucks; they like to think they are special just because their
own combination of coffee is unique).