Learning architecture as an impure discipline: Mental and emotional dimensions of architecture

Starting from new strains of phenomenology and from recent neuroscience’s theories, the paper aims to address the topic of “impurity” of architecture grounded in human “affective space” that modifies the way the world is for us. Specially in the case of urban transformations and mainly in regeneration programs, where it is increasingly manifest a wider requirement and instance for participation by the inhabitants, people’s feelings and emotions become something that needs to be taken into account in practicing architecture and planning. Concepts such as “affordance”, "atmosphere", “embodiment” and "empathy" become central in our way of experiencing space: along with other concepts such as memory, identity, imagery, they redefine the balance between reflective and pre-reflective domains. This raises questions about how to learn the impurity of architecture, which claims the development of critical devices required to understand biological, psychological and cultural aspects in a more integrated way strictly connected to social practices.