Architecture of Seven Senses. Questions of Perception

Juhani Pallasmaa says there are seven senses of humans that occur during an architectural experience and they are eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin, bone and muscles.

The idea of buildings losing their plasticity and their connection with the language and wisdom of the body leads to isolation. Disconnection from construction doesn’t justify authenticity. Natural material showcases age ie stone, brick, wood, which enriches the experience. Materials of today don’t convey anything of their material essence or age. Every touching experience of architecture is a multi-sensory experience. Sound connected to imagination. Spaces traced by the ear create a sense of connection and solidarity.

Most essential auditory experience created by architecture is tranquility and silence of matter and space. Examples such as a museum waiting patiently because they silence external noise and you focus on existence. Another example is memory of space for example scent of candy leads to thoughts of our childhood.

Skin reads texture, weight, density, and temperature of matter. For example the clean shimmer of ageless wear can turn a doorknob into an image of welcome and hospitality.  There is also density and texture of ground that was connecting us with skin to home, comfort and intimacy. Great architecture offers shapes and surfaces molded for the pleasurable touch of the eye. Eye senses most importunately separation and distance of a building.

A real architectural experience is approached, confronted, encountered and related to ones body. The authenticity of architectural experience is grounded in the tectonic language of buildings and the comprehensibility of the act of construction of the senses. Constant dialogue with environment is impossible to detach the image of self from its special and situational existence. This means the encounter of any work of art implies bodily interaction.

When experiencing the building and construction they will accept unconsciously lots of phenomenon’s by the brain and include all of the bodies sensory organs.