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“I remember it...I feel it” Place’s Intangible Identity: Explorations through the Lens of Micro-phenomenology- Case Study of Al-Sultan Hassan Complex
In today’s contemporary architecture, the growing of anonymous and interchangeable spaces has diminished the distinctive character of the place, its individuality and experiential signification, fostering placelessness. This research argues that the framework of reconsidering place’s atmosphere offe...
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AUC Knowledge Fountain
2025
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| _version_ | 1867613424488284160 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Mohamed El Zoheiry, Sarah |
| author_browse | Mohamed El Zoheiry, Sarah |
| author_facet | Mohamed El Zoheiry, Sarah |
| author_sort | Mohamed El Zoheiry, Sarah |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | In today’s contemporary architecture, the growing of anonymous and interchangeable spaces has diminished the distinctive character of the place, its individuality and experiential signification, fostering placelessness. This research argues that the framework of reconsidering place’s atmosphere offers a pathway to reconnect people with places through emotional, sensory, and embodied encounters. This research investigates the phenomenology of place, focusing on the atmosphere as an intangible identity that transcends physical attributes and engages people's senses and feelings. By exploring the Al-Sultan Hassan complex, the study deepens the understanding of the transcendental quality of the atmosphere, it’s unfolding over time, and it’s associated atmospheric spatial attributes through people’s narratives. Following a core questions: How do people experience the atmosphere of a place? How atmosphere unfolds overtime? How do different spatial attributes influence people's feelings and resonate in their memories? How are the atmospheric spatial attributes reshaped and redefined by people?
Using micro-phenomenology as the primary methodology, this research delves into lived encounters to uncover how atmosphere and atmospheric attributes are perceived, remembered, and reshaped by individuals. It proposes a framework for understanding atmosphere through the fusion of lived, mental, and material dimensions of place, addressing themes of subjectivity, embodiment, and dwelling as major ones from the perspective of phenomenology of place. The findings contribute to the discourse on the atmosphere in architecture. It also provides a framework for thinking and designing from an embodied perspective that transcend the limitations of placelessness. This framework can be used by thinkers, architects, urban designers, and policymakers to rejuvenate places with intangible identities based on people lived encounters. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:fount.aucegypt.edu:etds-3509 |
| institution | American University in Cairo (Egypt) |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:35:55.364Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from AUC Knowledge Fountain — bepress |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publishDateRange | 2025 |
| publishDateSort | 2025 |
| publisher | AUC Knowledge Fountain |
| publisherStr | AUC Knowledge Fountain |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | AUC Knowledge Fountain — bepress |
| spelling | oai:fount.aucegypt.edu:etds-3509 “I remember it...I feel it” Place’s Intangible Identity: Explorations through the Lens of Micro-phenomenology- Case Study of Al-Sultan Hassan Complex Mohamed El Zoheiry, Sarah In today’s contemporary architecture, the growing of anonymous and interchangeable spaces has diminished the distinctive character of the place, its individuality and experiential signification, fostering placelessness. This research argues that the framework of reconsidering place’s atmosphere offers a pathway to reconnect people with places through emotional, sensory, and embodied encounters. This research investigates the phenomenology of place, focusing on the atmosphere as an intangible identity that transcends physical attributes and engages people's senses and feelings. By exploring the Al-Sultan Hassan complex, the study deepens the understanding of the transcendental quality of the atmosphere, it’s unfolding over time, and it’s associated atmospheric spatial attributes through people’s narratives. Following a core questions: How do people experience the atmosphere of a place? How atmosphere unfolds overtime? How do different spatial attributes influence people's feelings and resonate in their memories? How are the atmospheric spatial attributes reshaped and redefined by people? Using micro-phenomenology as the primary methodology, this research delves into lived encounters to uncover how atmosphere and atmospheric attributes are perceived, remembered, and reshaped by individuals. It proposes a framework for understanding atmosphere through the fusion of lived, mental, and material dimensions of place, addressing themes of subjectivity, embodiment, and dwelling as major ones from the perspective of phenomenology of place. The findings contribute to the discourse on the atmosphere in architecture. It also provides a framework for thinking and designing from an embodied perspective that transcend the limitations of placelessness. This framework can be used by thinkers, architects, urban designers, and policymakers to rejuvenate places with intangible identities based on people lived encounters. 2025-02-19T08:00:00Z thesis application/pdf https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds/2463 https://fount.aucegypt.edu/context/etds/article/3509/viewcontent/sarah_mohamed_elzoheiry_thesis.pdf Theses and Dissertations AUC Knowledge Fountain Place Phenomenology Atmosphere Sense of Place Place-memory Spatial attributes Micro-phenomenology Sensory ethnography Anthropology Architecture Philosophy |
| spellingShingle | Place Phenomenology Atmosphere Sense of Place Place-memory Spatial attributes Micro-phenomenology Sensory ethnography Anthropology Architecture Philosophy Mohamed El Zoheiry, Sarah “I remember it...I feel it” Place’s Intangible Identity: Explorations through the Lens of Micro-phenomenology- Case Study of Al-Sultan Hassan Complex |
| title | “I remember it...I feel it” Place’s Intangible Identity: Explorations through the Lens of Micro-phenomenology- Case Study of Al-Sultan Hassan Complex |
| title_full | “I remember it...I feel it” Place’s Intangible Identity: Explorations through the Lens of Micro-phenomenology- Case Study of Al-Sultan Hassan Complex |
| title_fullStr | “I remember it...I feel it” Place’s Intangible Identity: Explorations through the Lens of Micro-phenomenology- Case Study of Al-Sultan Hassan Complex |
| title_full_unstemmed | “I remember it...I feel it” Place’s Intangible Identity: Explorations through the Lens of Micro-phenomenology- Case Study of Al-Sultan Hassan Complex |
| title_short | “I remember it...I feel it” Place’s Intangible Identity: Explorations through the Lens of Micro-phenomenology- Case Study of Al-Sultan Hassan Complex |
| title_sort | i remember it i feel it place s intangible identity explorations through the lens of micro phenomenology case study of al sultan hassan complex |
| topic | Place Phenomenology Atmosphere Sense of Place Place-memory Spatial attributes Micro-phenomenology Sensory ethnography Anthropology Architecture Philosophy |
| url | https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds/2463 https://fount.aucegypt.edu/context/etds/article/3509/viewcontent/sarah_mohamed_elzoheiry_thesis.pdf |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT mohamedelzoheirysarah irememberitifeelitplacesintangibleidentityexplorationsthroughthelensofmicrophenomenologycasestudyofalsultanhassancomplex |