Phenomenology in Architecture: Why Human-Centered Design Still Matters

To speak of architecture only in terms of form, style, or performance misses its most vital dimension: how it is lived. A building is not just an object; it is an atmosphere — a condition of light, sound, material, and memory.

This is the provocation of Questions of Perception: Phenomenology of Architecture, an influential dialogue between American Architect Steven Holl, Finnish Architect Juhani Pallasmaa, and Mexican Architectural Historian Alberto Pérez-Gómez. Their shared argument is simple yet radical: architecture is not primarily what we see, but what we experience.

Architecture is not primarily what we see, but what we experience. ~ Steven Holl, Juhani Pallasmaa, Alberto Pérez-Gómz

Phenomenology in Architecture: The Essence of Experience

Phenomenology in architecture is less about abstract philosophy and more about attention — noticing the subtleties of how bodies and spaces interact.

• In Tadao Ando’s Church of Light (Osaka, 1989), the entire composition rests on a void. A cruciform cut allows daylight to puncture a concrete wall, turning absence into sacred presence. The geometry is austere, but the experience is visceral — silence charged with light.

• Peter Zumthor’s Therme Vals (Switzerland, 1996) dissolves boundaries between body, stone, and water. Walking barefoot across the quartzite allows us to feel the mountain beneath our feet; the echo of water against stone embeds itself in memory.

• Álvaro Siza’s Leça Swimming Pools (Portugal, 1966) merge landscape and architecture. Carved into the rock, the pools are inseparable from the Atlantic horizon — the experience of swimming is framed not by a building, but by the ocean itself.

  
  

These works do not seduce through spectacle. They endure because they are inseparable from how we dwell in them.

Left to right: Peter Zumthor’s Therme Vals, Tadao Ando’s Church of Light, Álvaro Siza’s Leça Swimming Pools

Three Voices on Phenomenology in Architecture: Diverse Perspectives

Questions of Perception brings together three lenses:

• Steven Holl emphasizes the role of light, color, and time in crafting atmospheres. His Chapel of St. Ignatius in Seattle (1997) gathers “seven bottles of light” into a single composition, a spatial metaphor drawn from Jesuit spiritual exercises.

  
  

• Juhani Pallasmaa, author of The Eyes of the Skin, critiques the dominance of vision and re-centers architecture in the body. For him, memory, touch, and sound are as vital as sight.

  
  

• Alberto Pérez-Gómez situates phenomenology historically and philosophically, reminding us that architecture is a cultural practice of meaning, not just a production of images.

  
  

Their dialogue resists the flattening of architecture into icon or commodity.

Left to right: Steven Holl, Juhani Pallasmaa, and Alberto Pérez-Gómez

The Risk of Forgetting: A Call to Action

Today, renders are consumed faster than buildings can be built. Towers compete for attention in the skyline, each designed as a brand rather than a place. Efficiency and image often outrun atmosphere and meaning.

Phenomenology in architecture is not an escape into nostalgia. It insists that architecture must continue to speak to those who inhabit it, not only to those who consume it on a screen.

Lessons for Designers: Crafting Meaningful Spaces

• Material is active — Scarpa’s Brion Cemetery (Italy, 1978) shows how concrete, water, and vegetation combine into a meditation on life and death. Here, material becomes narrative.

  
  

• Light is temporal — Holl’s Chapel demonstrates that daylight is not decoration but a rhythm that structures experience.

  
  

• Movement scripts space — Siza’s pools or Zumthor’s baths prove that the sequence of moving, pausing, and dwelling is as much design as any drawing.

  
  

• Memory is the ultimate measure — The architecture that lingers is not the one most photographed, but the one recalled in silence years later.

  
  

In the Jesuits' “spiritual exercises”, no single method is prescribed – “different methods helped different people…”. ~ Steven Holl

Design drawings of the Chapel of St. Ignatius in Seattle, WA, United States. Here, a unity of differences is gathered into one.

A Necessary Return: Embracing Human-Centric Design

Questions of Perception is not a relic. It is a reminder that, amidst speed and spectacle, architecture has a deeper task: to shape how we feel, remember, and belong.

At WiE, we see this not as theory but as practice. To design inclusively and authentically means refusing the flattening of experience into surfaces. It means creating spaces that can only be understood by being lived.

Will architecture continue to race for visibility, or can it return to its slower, essential work — shaping the ground of human experience? ~ WiE Design Open Question

Conclusion: The Future of Architecture

As we move forward, we must remember the importance of human experience in design. The spaces we create should resonate with the lives of those who inhabit them. By focusing on phenomenology, we can ensure that architecture remains a meaningful part of our daily lives, fostering connections and memories that endure.

Let us embrace this journey together, crafting environments that are not just seen but felt, experienced, and remembered.