Designing for the Senses
This week’s discussion about thermodynamic architecture got me thinking about designing for the senses. How does a building effect the way you feel? When architecture is more holistic, it is thought about in more than just the aesthetics. The way a building looks does matter, but so does the temperature, the texture, the sound, the smell. I believe all of these aspects should be considered.
I had the chance to help out a little bit on designing a school for deaf and blind children. It was a very unique project, and it reminded me that architecture is not just about making pretty buildings, but about effecting users in every sense. During the design process, one major consideration was the floor and hand rail materials. Different materials were used to indicate specific locations. There were also water features, windchimes, and rubber tires placed in certain spots to indicate entrances, exits, etc. It was a fascinating project, and might have been one of the most holistic buildings I have had the opportunity to work on.
That is such a cool experience! It makes me wonder if we should be designing this way in every building--like how mechancial/structural are supposed to be designed into the parti, what if touch and smell and temperature were also incorporated into the parti? What could that space be?
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting how much more we pay attention to those details in projects with programs that force us to think that way. In undergrad we had a studio project designing a library for the blind. Texture, sound, and temperature were incredibly important and impacted every single decision we made.
ReplyDeleteI've always thought this should be a second year assignment in the undergraduate program here. glad to see that other schools do it at least
ReplyDeleteI think we always think how would people interact the space we design at some point during the design process,and we might try to put ourselves in those situation to help us design a space that everyone can share the same experience using the five senses.
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