An Architecture of the Seven Senses

When we talk about senses, usually we will just think about the common five senses, which are, vision, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. But when it come to Juhani Uolevi Pallasmaa, a Finnish architect and former professor of architecture. He conclude architecture with seven senses, which is the usually five and the additional of muscle and skeleton.

In the present of lives, the sense of vision had actually meant everything to an architect and also everyone else. There are reason why architect nowadays lack of applying all the senses into their design and work. Is undeniable that majority of people will judge things by the first slight of eyes whether it’s beautiful or ugly. An most unfortunate reason of concentrating on the visual, without the others senses is due to the side effect of media. When we open up a magazine, it’s impossible to convey all the senses others than visual through photographs. That’s no ways that we can smell the building, sense the volume of space, neither feel the warmth of the sunlight. Media in current live is too competitive that usually first magazine to publish a building often sells more. So if you get to discuss the building before its completion, then you is first involves to speak.

Due to the side effect of the media, that lead architect to concentrate more on the visual, because they know more and more their clients understand their designs through media representation of them, rather than visiting them. And this also leads to a consequence, where more and more designs are discussed through the media and simply understand by the presentation without going to the site and analyse it.

I would like to add in a situation, how an architect should build a house to a client, if the client is blind. Is impossible that the house is without the others senses other than visualization. By an American architect, Charles Moore, he had design a house for a blind client in California. The house was oriented by a series of rooms containing scented plants, containing water and things that would make differences noise. This will lead the client to use his ability of senses of hearing, smell, and also touch. Within every room things to touch remind him of the room where he were. This have show that the important to include all the senses in our design.

Sense of visual


Sense of visual is the ability to see by a pair of eyes. Usually we will see and observe a thing with our eyes before all. By jus applying the sense of visual had become a threat to nowadays architects. When we design, we shouldn’t only view things in a perspective, we should have view it in difference perspective so that we can understand it better and full use of our ability.

Acoustic Intimacy


Hearing is the ability to hear through our ear. Every building or space has its characteristic sound of intimacy or monumentality, rejection or invitation, hospitality or hostility. Sense or hearing creates a sense of connection and solidarity. However, sound also measures space and makes its scale comprehensible.

The Shape of Touch


Touching is an ability by the contact of our skin. Skin do reads the texture, weight, density and temperature of matter. The tactile sense connects us with time and tradition. Our skin traces spaces of temperature with unerring precision. Our skin also traces the density and texture of the ground through our soles.

Taste of Architecture


By Juhani Pallasmaa, "To me, it is, I have experience on a number of occasions that certain qualities of stone, for instance, certain metals, detailing of wood, can be so subtle that you feel it in your mouth. I have made the observation that architecture can be subtle enough to even evoke a sensation of taste.” Vision also becomes transferred to taste; certain colours as well as delicate details evoke oral sensations.

Images of Muscle and Bone


Primitive man used his body as the dimensioning and proportioning system of his construction. A building is not an end to itself, it frames, articulates, restructures, gives significance, relates, separates and unites, facilitates and prohibits. The sense of muscle and bone is just like a structure in our body, it’s interrelated.

Beyond Appearances - Architecture and the senses

This is an article of the conversation between Alan Saunders (host of radio national), Rebecca Maxwell & Peter-John Cantrill(the guest). They were discussing about how the professional Architects can even things up, so that our experience of the world we build around us becomes a truly multi-sensory.

http://www.ebility.com/articles/beyondappearances.php