Images of a place are recalled by remembering how it might have smelt, how surfaces may have felt, if it was hot or cold, light or dark and how it made one feel - a sensory explosion if many ways. .
Zumthor discusses this in great detail in "Thinking Architecture-. He cleverly relies upon his own experiences, places he has been, and gathers sensory memories and applies them to his work, in an effort to recreate these feelings and experiences and design places which are more meaningful. He says "Memories like these contain the deepest architectural experience I know-. He discusses in great detail his Aunt's house, how her kitchen was laid out and how as a child it made him feel. Although he felt that there was nothing special about it, he felt that everything was typical of a traditional kitchen and he is left with this memory imprinted on his mind. He discusses sound, light and overall feelings. "The atmosphere in this room is insolubly linked with my idea of a kitchen-. .
It is Martin Heidegger who takes this notion another step further. He writes about a phenomenological concept of place with the introduction of building and dwelling into the equation. In one of his papers, "Building Dwelling Thinking- Heidegger explores our sense of identity and how it is closely associated with our home, our dwelling. He goes as far as to say that this can be greatest achieved through a knowledge or input in to the building of one's own home. He states that building and dwelling are inseparable and again human interaction is of the utmost importance. .
Heidegger also believed that it was important that a person understands and has input into the organisation of their dwelling. Without this our experience of dwelling is diminished. He believed that internal architecture was imperative with identification of place using furniture, the hanging of pictures etc. Heidegger was writing in post-war Germany when there was a severe shortage of housing and around six million houses were needed.
