IJUP08 - Universidade do Porto

Feeling Architecture. The importance of ‘the other’ senses in the
experience of space.
S. Silva Natária
Faculty of Architecture, University of Porto, Portugal.
This abstract refers to my final dissertation 2 at F.AU.P. Based on a phenomenological
approach to architecture, it focuses on the perception of space by Touch, Smell and
Hearing, asking questions that enable the creation of a multisensorial architectonic
language: Which are the non-visual sensory stimuli that participate in the user’s experience
of architecture? What composition principles do they materialize? What role do they play
in that experience?
To reinforce my own sensory awareness and to better understand the possibility of
provoking aesthetic pleasure independently from the sense of Sight, I made an incursion in
blind user’s experience of space by conducting a series of interviews.
An inquest to the users of Koolhaas’s Casa da Música and Siza Vieira’s Museu de
Serralves showed how two different architectonic languages were also perceived
differently by ‘the other’ senses, causing different reactions: the first, a desire for physical
sensorial interaction, the second a more visual attitude of contemplation.
This multisensorial approach to architecture’s creative process led me to the creation of a
sensorial data-base, a recollection and organization of tactile, sound and smell stimuli:
textures, consistencies and temperatures of walls and pavements of different materials,
sounds of steps and fountains, and aromatic vegetation.
From the analysis of all data gathered, I concluded that, to create a multisensorial
language, architects must control the sensory parameters of shape, temperature, texture,
consistency, smell and sound of every element chosen for a certain space. These non-visual
stimuli can be assembled together according to composition principles also used for visual
stimuli, like rhythms, gradations, harmonies and contrasts. In addition, they also
accumulate functions of architectonic identity, helping to identify and distinct spaces, and
of spatial orientation, attracting, directing, delimitating and punctuating the user’s way
trough the building.
There is scope for further work. It is critical to test these conclusions with a wider survey,
covering staff and blind users of the buildings cited above.
This investigation intends to open the practice of architecture to a creative challenge of
adapting project processes and formal languages to the creation of spaces that explore the
potential of architecture’s intrinsic multisensoriality. Its results give us, architects, a more
complete notion of how users perceive the built environment, so that we can make well
informed choices and better decisions during the creation process. And finally, a basic
knowledge that should be part of any architect’s education: how to address our buildings
aesthetic messages to all human senses, creating buildings that, like persons, objects or
movies, are memorable for their own unique perfume, touch or soundtrack.
[1] Natária, Sara Silva, Sentir a Arquitectura. A importância dos ‘outros’ Sentidos na leitura da
obra arquitectónica, Prova Final de Licenciatura em Arquitectura, F.A.U.P. 2005.
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