PORCELAIN FOG
Porcelain Fog is a research and sound-based project developed within the seminar Words, Cities, Atmospheres at The Berlage Center for Advanced Studies in Architecture and Urban Design.
The seminar explored how literary texts can reveal the atmospheric and spatial dimensions of cities. Working with excerpts from Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway, Philippe Soupault’s The Last Nights of Paris, and Joseph Brodsky’s Watermark, students examined how urban environments are constructed through language, perception, and lived experience.
Through close reading and theoretical reflection, the project brings together literary analysis and urban interpretation, focusing on Venice as described in Watermark. It investigates how atmosphere, materiality, and perception shape the experience of the city beyond its physical form, treating the urban environment as a narrative and sensory construct.
The work examines how literary language can be translated into spatial and atmospheric understanding, and how urban research can move beyond visual representation towards sound, rhythm, and narration.
The outcome takes the form of a scripted and produced podcast episode, A Porcelain Fog, which translates textual research into an atmospheric audio piece. Through voice and sound, the project explores Venice as an imagined and material environment, foregrounding atmosphere as a critical dimension of urban experience.
Tutor: Angeliki Sioli