Sensory architecture plays a crucial role in shaping the interaction between people and their built environment. By considering all of the senses, a space can trigger feelings such as coziness, warmth, cleanness, comfort, and surprise. To design buildings and environments that promote health and well-being, it is necessary to consider the impact of the various senses on a building’s inhabitants.
The primary aim of this paper is to explore the relationship between urban space and interior design and its impact on human social interaction through studies about public interior design. The goal of an interior environment is to move forward the intention of a space and engage the user in meaningful ways. One way to do that is by designing spaces to activate the five basic sensory effects: touch, sound, smell, taste, and the wisdom of the body.
Sensory design principles profoundly affect how we interact with our surroundings. By strategically incorporating elements that appeal to multiple senses, you can evoke specific moods and emotional responses, creating deeper connections between people and their environments. Within interior design, the visual element serves as a powerful tool, shaping our emotions and influencing our overall experience within a space.
Designing for multiple senses allows for a more immersive and interactive experience, ultimately leading to increased user engagement. Sensory design is tasked with shaping buildings with environments that positively influence our senses, producing good memory, behavior, and emotions.
Individual design elements have a direct impact on our emotional state, such as colors, which can elicit specific emotions and set the tone for a space.
📹 Places and Spaces and the Behavior They Create | Damaris Hollingsworth | TEDxMinneapolis
Can architecture bring people together and create community? Can it truly help people reach their full potential? Damaris …
How designing spaces affects human behavior?
The layout and design of a space significantly impact human behavior, with open-plan layouts promoting social interaction and collaboration and closed-off layouts promoting privacy and concentration. Architects in Dubai consider the purpose of the space and the needs of the people using furniture, partitions, and lighting to create zones that encourage various activities. Architecture also has a significant impact on mental health, with research showing that the built environment can influence stress, anxiety, depression, and other mental health conditions.
To promote mental health, architects in Dubai incorporate natural elements such as greenery, water features, and natural materials, creating a connection to the natural world and promoting a sense of calm and relaxation.
How do interior places shape your behavior, feelings, and perceptions?
Environmental psychology, or Space psychology, is the study of human relations and behaviors within the context of built and natural environments. It involves the interaction between people and the spaces they inhabit, focusing on lighting, colors, configuration, scale, proportions, acoustics, and materials. Space can have a significant impact on how we act and feel, influencing our emotions and perceptions. Interior design, which directly impacts our subconscious and contributes to our emotions and perceptions, is an inherent part of people’s psychology.
Interior design is not the only factor involved, and it is the architect’s responsibility to shape tangible solutions for users and incorporate these ideas into the structure. By considering the social and psychological needs of the occupants, design and creative measures can be tailored to create a positive and efficient working environment.
How does interior design affect people?
Dr. Frank identifies color choice, light temperature, and space plan as the three most influential interior design elements affecting mental health. A balanced combination of these elements can significantly impact mood and thoughts. Natural colors, such as blue, green, and lavender, can create a thriving environment, while warm lighting can stimulate excitement and creativity. Large, open rooms with high ceilings can also be cheerful.
Daylight, particularly natural light, can help manage symptoms of depression and anxiety. Research has linked seasonal depression to lack of sun exposure, so it’s crucial to incorporate as much natural light as possible into your space.
What are the sensory experiences in interior design?
Sensory interior design is a strategy that focuses on activating all human senses in interior spaces, including sight, scent, sound, touch, and taste. This approach is crucial as sensory experiences can significantly impact our feelings and preferences. It allows us to create spaces that trigger emotions and experiences we desire. Sensory interior design is especially important for neurodiverse individuals who are highly sensitive to their surroundings, such as textures, colors, and sounds. Styling a space based on sensory experience ensures that these individuals do not feel overstimulated, uncomfortable, or on edge, promoting a more restful and comfortable environment.
How does interior design benefit people?
Interior design plays a crucial role in improving the quality of life of individuals by creating well-designed spaces that promote physical and mental well-being. The industry encompasses various styles, from haute couture to fast fashion, each with its own unique flair. Haute couture is high-end, custom-made garments, while ready-to-wear fashion offers pre-made clothing lines. These diverse types of design highlight the industry’s ability to cater to various tastes and preferences, setting trends and reflecting societal shifts.
This blog will explore the intricate world of fashion design, its significance, different types, and the immense scope and potential it holds in India. It will also discuss the expected salary trends in the field for 2023 and the courses to become a fashion designer. The scope of interior design in India is vast, and the industry is expected to grow in the coming years.
How does decor affect your mood?
Clean, open homes with minimal clutter improve moods. This can be achieved through room layout, furniture placement, storage solutions, color schemes, organization, and lighting. Room organization is crucial for a peaceful home, as it reduces anxiety and overwhelm. Furniture arrangement and function contribute to creating mentally healthy spaces in all room sizes, fostering social interaction and reducing anxiety.
How does design influence behavior?
Branding directly impacts buying decisions, but psychological principles also play a role in shaping these decisions. Design psychology influences preference-based judgments by affecting areas of the brain like the prefrontal cortex, midbrain, and hippocampus. Building trust is a primary objective of a brand, and consumers correlate familiarity with trust. Visuals, such as logos and brochures, help consumers associate the brand with their knowledge.
Including design psychology in the design process ensures correct associations between visuals and the brand’s message. Three design elements, color, fonts, and shapes, have a significant impact on buying decisions. Using these principles effectively can enhance the effectiveness of a brand, logo, and marketing materials.
What are the five senses of interior design?
A balanced interior design should evoke the five senses: sight, touch, smell, hearing, and taste. By incorporating these senses into your daily environment, you can create a harmonious experience. Before designing, consider your mood and the energy you seek in each room. Kathy Corbet Interiors explores every design possibility to satisfy clients’ dreams and wishes, applying their knowledge and skills to narrow down the best options.
Their mission is to help clients realize their dreams and achieve results beyond their expectations. By incorporating these senses into your home, you can create a harmonious and enjoyable experience.
How does a sense of place affect a person’s self image?
Identity is influenced by various sources and factors, but those with a strong sense of place are more grounded. They deeply connect to their environment and are deeply rooted in their identity. Our sense of identity is shaped by our environment, experiences, and memories. It is essential to have a place where we feel a sense of belonging and connection. While wandering and exploring can help with self-discovery, a strong sense of place can help ground ourselves in who we are.
What is the psychology of interior space?
Interior design aims to balance human behavioral cognition and user experience, focusing on a harmonious dynamic balance. However, the broader the space, the better it is for users, as over-broad spaces can cause feelings of loss and insecurity. People’s needs for safety and protection often lead to the use of interspersed spaces to provide a more stable and secure mentality.
In public spaces, such as train stations and subway stations, people tend to form multiple groups around waiting spaces, seats, and pillars, maintaining a specific space with others. This concept of “security” has led to the use of interspersed spaces to provide a more stable mentality.
A study by time-lapse cameras and three years of observation and measurement of interactions in public spaces revealed the notion of “self-congestion”, where people tend to attract others despite preferring to stay away from crowds. Interior design should consider gathered spaces instead of an evenly distributed distance with tables and chairs, as this can help create a more comfortable and enjoyable environment for users.
How spaces can impact our emotional well-being?
The presence of open and spacious areas within a given environment has been demonstrated to have a beneficial impact on the psychological state of individuals, with evidence suggesting that such environments can help to alleviate feelings of claustrophobia and anxiety, facilitate social interaction, and foster a sense of community.
📹 Experiencing architecture through the senses
In this video, we talk about architecture that is experienced not only visually, but with our senses, or what we call, “sensing …
I really love the way you describe the world around you. It’s amazing how we all experience it differently, even though we’re all in the same boat. Our perceptions can create completely different worlds, even when we’re looking at the same thing. Thank you so much for sharing your unique perspective—it really adds something special!
Just discovered and am enjoying your website. My view on space, memories and place is that what we are really recording is our route through spacetime. We do not traverse space. We do not traverse time. We traverse spacetime. We always do both simultaneously. The two dimensions of location are inseparable. since we live in spacetime, our brains and senses have evolved to help up navigate and make sense of it.
I’m in my first semestre of architecture school and we just visited the St. Anton’s Church in Basel, Swiss. The professors wanted us to experience the building with all our senses and I loved it. We were all so quiet in the church and the light reflected beautifully onto the rough concrete walls. Architecture is so much better in real life than on photos!
I am a Software Engineer and I do not understand much about architecture. The way you explained your idea of sensing the architecture was very beautiful and meaningful. It really helped to realize that there is much more to out there, than our retina can really absorb. Thanks a lot for sharing these articles, @Dami.
Such a well crafted and thought out article. The point about differentiating space and place is super interesting to me and also something I’m thinking about from time to time. The closest I’ve come to somewhat explaining it to myself is looking at ‘space’ as something assembled with defined elements that are visual and by altering them you would most definitely change the end result, therefore making some new space. On the other hand, ‘place’ is something above visual, most definitely influenced by memory aspect that you mentioned, plus all the other senses. Changing a place is probably much harder because it almost happens by accident and is hard to plan or predict. Zumptor is I think one of the few who can reliably make ‘places’ instead of ‘spaces’, probably thanks to huge experience and mastery. Excuse my English, it is not my main language so I hope it’s understandable 🙂
experiential impoverishment…daaannnngggg that is such a good way to describe it. gonna make sure to go and explore more spaces. thanks Dami! this was genuinely a super interesting article. would be curious to hear your thoughts on the places you most found architecturally interesting to visit sometime! one of the things I’d love to do more of is explore more of the world’s spaces, when it gets unlocked again.
As coordinator for construction, buildings have recently felt like to me a dead&hollow object or space to sell (probably cause i worked on commercialized buildings/residential) but wow… that quote about how “the door handle is the handshake of the building” really re-invigerated in me emtionally to see buildings being an entity of itself to be interacted with and experienced, much like a person. Almost enough for me to be untraumatized from my experience sorting out the door schedules. In summary I really enjoyed this article. Thanks!
I agree 100%. All our senses are key to solving problem. Corporate and big tech idea of Remote control of ‘wealth’, is delusional sense of control. It keeps growing because of the desperate needs of capitalising on new designs and technology models, yet the so irrational, unsustainable contractual dependency for earning a living and keeping the economy ‘growing’ becomes the root cause of our today’s chaotic socio-economics crisis. I’ve witnessed how business of capital importance have lost mega deals due to the ‘remote control’ approach. The desensitised generations won’t know how to solve problems so we become self destructive. I wish my senses were comfortably numbed but they are sharp as the current situation clear demands sense of urgency for our survival.
Very nice article! That feeling of total silence, it’s one of the most peacefull things on earth. I guess can be only compared to the sound of waves crashing into the beach (deserted ones). Another thing that affects us, is the accessibility and effortless way to get those “informations”, when you don’t have to expend a lot of money to “get it”, because it’s already at your hand. Don’t misunderstand me, i totally agree with Juhani, experiencing the place and the space is more important to architects and students (hell, to everyone in fact hehe). =)
Hi Dami! I just discovered your articles a week ago. I really enjoyed this one. I speak to my class about space and place all the time and I am always trying to get them to be present in the moment and experience a place. I will be perusal more of your articles in the coming months. Thank you for sharing your insights.
Loved this! My experience with experiencing a space through senses was when I visited this little village located in Nagaland called ‘Kohonoma’. The architectural space I talk about is a simple residential house locally designed, crafted as well as constructed but the experience etched in my mind is of the softness of the material palette, the sounds of the valley websiteing into the house through wind, the graveled pathways leading to the house and the stone stairs leading to the lower floors (typology of houses there included a lower floor below main roadways). This article helped me see the link between my memory with the architectural experience (through senses). Thanks a lot! <3
Years ago when in college, in the “Senses” module of my intro to Psychology class, I remember reading a chapter dedicated to one famous mnemonist. When he asked about how he remembered so much, he explained that he would close his eyes and create spaces within a house or building. He would fill a room with something he wanted to remember, then go into another imagined room and do the same, and so forth. This article, you mentioning the brain research linking physical space with memory… it brings so much sense to this mnemonic strategy. Very interesting topic, thank you for bringing it up and relating it to arquitecture.
Wherever we might be, we occupy space with our entire body, not just with our eyes.I believe not many architects realize the importance of catering to allllllll of the senses, not only sigh, but hearing, smell and taste also. Juhani Pallasmaa’s book, The Eyes of the Skin, is an interesting reading on just that. Also Phenomenology is a theory that promotes the integration of sensory perception as a function of a built form. Christian Norberg-Schulz is one architect that has written a great deal on the topic.
Hello! Haptic architecture is one of the core concepts behind my thesis topic, and I’m glad this article exists! I believe more architects should at least try to design places that aren’t just visual feasts for the eyes. We have at least five senses, we should at least satisfy around two to three of them 😀
Nice article! We’re all living in a digital reality that’s more engaging then the outside one. We just have to look at people in trains to see all of them looking downwards instead of ahead or each other. This might heavily influence future architecture to be more photography worthy then a sensory experience. I hear museums are designing they’re exhibits to be instagram worthy over just pressing the art. Keep shipping thought provoking essays!
It’s surprising that you barely mention Juhani Pallasmaa’s Eyes of the Skin in this article; it’s arguably the most important body of work in architecture theory relating to haptic architecture. I think it’s worthy of more than just a quote, and it should be recommended to your viewers to learn more about this topic.