Beyond the Visuals of Architecture

Abstract

When experiencing a space, all the five senses play an important role. The five senses include vision, olfaction, touch, auditory, and taste. It is an architect’s job to be able to present all these elements in the user’s experience of a space, to be able to enhance the “feel” of the building in the most appropriate fashion. It is known that ‘architecture is a journey and not a destination’ Even though the final visuals play an important role in the initial ocular experience of the building, the other senses build onto the experience developing the building’s character beyond its appearance. All our knowledge about our surroundings is gathered by the balanced perception from our five senses, it only makes sense that the spaces that we occupy have characteristics that are concluded by these five senses together. It is impossible to look at the world from just one angle, then why should a building have just one spatial definition.