AURA stands for Affective Unities: A Site-Specific Research on Architectural Atmospheres.

By experimenting with a synthesis of architecture, phenomenology, and cognitive neuroscience, we explore how specific architectural spaces, through their unique atmospheric aura, generate affective experiences that foster a dynamic unity, attuning people to their surroundings.


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Selected in the Young Researchers 2024 call [YR2024] for Marie Skłodowska-Curie postdoctoral fellows [MSCA], AURA is funded through the NextGenerationEU program by the Italian Ministry of University and Research [MUR] within the National Recovery and Resilience Plan [NRRP] — Mission 4 “Education and Research”, Component 2 “From Research to Business”, Investment 1.2 “Funding projects presented by young researchers.” 

This three-year research experience is hosted at the Department of Architecture and Design [DAD] of the University of Genoa [UNIGE], led by Elisabetta Canepa [PI] and supported by a dedicated interdisciplinary team. It represents a complementary evolution of her MSCA-winning RESONANCES project, contributing to a deeper understanding of how built environments influence human emotions.

AURA started in May 2025 and will end in June 2028.


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Architectural experiences are inherently affective, with emotions playing a crucial role in shaping our mood, behavior, and well-being. Atmosphere is a central concept in understanding emotions in architecture, serving as the unity of affective qualities that define a situation or place, enabling us to resonate with and attune to our surroundings. Despite their significance, atmospheric processes have only lately begun to receive systematic attention in architectural theory and education. The emergence of an “atmospheric turn,” initiated by phenomenological investigations in the early 2000s, has sparked interest in the sensory and emotional dynamics that underpin architectural experiences. This perspective has been further enriched by advancements in neuroscience, offering new insights into how we interact with built environments. The value of the AURA project lies in its integration of phenomenology-inspired and neuroscience-informed methodologies to explore the affective dimension of architectural atmospheres through in-situ approaches. By framing the body, mind, and environment as a unified system where emotions are co-created through our interactions with the world, we will develop an original multi-perspective research model to capture the multi-component nature of our atmospheric impressions.


^{AURA has received funding from the European Union’s NextGenerationEU program through the Italian Ministry of University and Research under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan [project ID: MSCA2024_0000009]. The content of this website reflects only the authors’ views. The European Commission and the Italian Ministry of University and Research cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.}