We explore the atmospheric potential and the affective connection between humans and their instrumented, responsive environments and develop corresponding artistic design strategies, evaluating ubicomp environments from a critical perspective, beyond pure application and usefulness. We have designed an abstract, cocoon-like, responsively mediated space and conducted a series of experiments with a total of 17 participants. Results show that participants experience affection, a coupling between themselves and the designed environment, and show strong cognitive engagement to understand and structure the environment through patterns of situation awareness and sensemaking.