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Atmosphere in interior design: perception, expectation, and the crafting of experience
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Atmosphere in interior design: perception, expectation, and the crafting of experience

William Mangold
Interiors : design, architecture, culture, v 15(2-3), pp 365-384
02 Sep 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/20419112.2026.2628312

Abstract

Arts & Humanities Architecture
Moving beyond its common use as a vague term of stylistic or emotional effect, this paper theorizes atmosphere as a relational system through which spatial environments are anticipated, interpreted, and inhabited. It argues that interior atmosphere is not only crafted through material configuration and sensory conditions, but also co-constructed through the psychological expectations, desires, and cultural scripts that users bring with them. Atmosphere emerges through a dynamic feedback loop between spatial cues and internalized frames of meaning, making it neither a fixed property of space nor a purely subjective impression, but a mediated and interpretive phenomenon. Drawing from phenomenology, ecological psychology, and cultural theory, the paper positions atmosphere as a primary medium through which interiors communicate meaning, regulate behavior, and shape belonging. It engages key thinkers including Zumthor, Pallasmaa, Weinthal, Bourdieu, and Baudrillard, and examines the political and pedagogical implications of atmospheric design in institutional and commercial interiors. The paper proposes an integrative framework that holds poetic expression and material rigor in productive tension, offering tools for design critique, teaching, and empirical research-while inviting a more accountable, situated, and socially attuned understanding of how interiors shape experience.

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