THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE SENSES:

Exploring How Design Provokes Emotional Responses.

This essay will talk about the architecture of the senses through a theoretical and concrete analysis of the five senses and how a space can generate a feeling or an emotion, not only through the five but also through a specific sense that makes us perceive others, the common sense. Aristotle was the first to categorise these senses and created theories about how we perceive our surroundings.

Taking into account the work of Aristotle, this essay will also analyse one of the most essential substances in architecture, which through our vision (the eyes) and its necessary action, are essential in the perception of a space; Light and Shadows. Without them, we cannot build anything because they are critical factors in creating sensitive environments.

Through a review of Peter Zumthor’s life and his unique project, The Therme Vals in Switzerland, we will discover strategies that the architect uses to create a unique and impactful environment in his works. In addition, I will analyse a personal experience in a space where we can see how these characteristics, mentioned throughout the text, were applied to the primary purpose of this writing. In the final part of this text, I conclude with the main factors used in reality to impact our daily lives for better sensitive architecture and a personal critical opinion about what we can do to create an architecture of the senses.

In this essay, I will explore the Architecture of the Senses, understanding the possibilities a space can manipulate the way we feel. It is particularly important to consider the spaces we occupy, as they can change our emotions, attitudes, and inspirations, generate answers and even heal us spiritually.

To begin, I shall analyse two substances of this world that are necessary for our lives on Earth. Light and Shadow. Without them, there would be an emptiness which is interesting to think, that the idea of this not existing is just chaos and destruction. For this, I will be looking at the work of Marietta S. Millet in Light revealing Architecture (1996).

I will then investigate the mechanisms described by the Greek philosopher Aristotle in his work on De Anima (On The Soul) (1986), which talks about our five senses, where he mentions that all five are associated with a dedicated object. In sequence, I will peruse one of the most emotionally provoking buildings around the world to search for answers about the strategies architects use to create impactful designs; for example, The Therme Vals by Peter Zumthor. It is interesting to see how the architect has an excellent and detailed approach to designing incredible buildings incorporating light and shadows, which are some of the strategies on the topic of this essay.

The way we understand a space can express its senses, but not only from light and shadows can a building be transformed; it is also the geometry, the materials, and even the air concentration that can impact our senses. The smell can also be part of this transcendent human experience.

Finally, I will include a personal experience. It happened right at the start of the first semester, which is important for my research because it reflects on the same principles used by architects and designers about the spaces being pleasant and welcoming, which retains the idea of the architecture of the senses.

We must keep in mind how important the atmosphere of a space can influence people’s productivity as well as wellness. As designers, we can influence people’s daily lives by creating spaces where they spend most of their time working, living, and socialising. It is a challenge to enhance the positive qualities of these places. Unfortunately, most people do not recognise the spaces they occupy; they accept it. When we accept an environment as it is, we end up frustrated, generating negative feelings, which is why it is essential in the designs to incorporate methods to change how people perceive it. The main question, key to this topic, is how can a design generate a feeling, an emotion? Moreover, which strategies can designers use to achieve this? These answers will be throughout this essay.

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth. Now the Earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.” (The Holy Bible: Genesis. 1:1-3)

To understand how the architecture of the senses is relevant, we need to analyse one of the most appreciated and vital substances of architecture created at the start of this universe, light and shadow. Without these two, there would be nothing, a complete limbo, a paradox of existence and non-existence where, without light, there are no shadows, total darkness, and without shadows, there is no light, a complete white where the eyes cannot see. If we think of possible ways to improve an environment, we think directly of natural daylight, as we recognise it as a luxury. It is not so easy to leave spaces open so they can be illuminated by natural light. A visual effect in a space can completely change the way we feel about it (Figure 1). For example, in a very closed space, let us say a basement with windows on its perimeter, gives a sense of welcome; it can become an open space, removing all the fears provoked by the darkness. In horror movies, we can see how they use basements as terrifying scenes that make us jump. Nevertheless, darkness is not to be feared; we need it to see the light, her direction. Lighten objects emanate shadows, revealing their deepest sides and character; here, we see their qualities.

When we observe the seasons, summer days are longer, bringing back that desire to play, spend more time outdoors, and enjoy the daylight. Usually, summer is a good time for everyone, and it seems that anytime, people smile more, changing our mood and emanating positive vibes. On the other hand, we have winter with shorter days, with the desire to stay at home, enjoying the morning sun and solving all our daily tasks as soon as possible because we know that the sun is setting and the night will come (Millet, 1996).

Here, we see how important it is in architecture the correct way to position a building. The direction in which the main entrance is in position gradually impacts the amount of sunlight it receives. For example, it reduces the energy costs such as heating and cooling (Devine, 2020), and one of the factors referring to this text is also the exposure to UV light from the sun to boost the immune system with vitamin D absorption. We already have seen from doctors that an excellent immune system generates better health benefits, transforming the body into its happiest state. So the amount of natural sunlight is critical for a more outstanding design. A space can only be admired and adored if it is covered with light and also shadows; a mix of both is crucial for human comfort that leads to creating emotions.

“… the light, contradictory, coming from the east, from the west, not at all from the north as a result of the arrangement of the house, light unfavourable at each instant, at each hour of the day, all year long, permanent adversary (abominable from the classical point of view of a painting studio) but in fact a useful adversary, seeing that here again it plays a role, that of forcing one …to concentrate, to condense, to express.” (Le Corbusier, 1953)

Now the world is created, and we were born humans. Since creation, we have understood ourselves as people, and we started to analyse more what happens to our human body, but these “actions” were not named from the start as we had not yet thought about these details of classifying names for certain functions of our body. Even though we have known about these functions for thousands of years, Aristotle, a Greek philosopher, whose work on De Anima, written 350 B.C.E, was the first person to categorise these “actions”. They are the five senses. In Aristotle’s writings, he starts describing an analogy about how we feel what we feel. Substantially it is through a connection between our soul and body. The soul can only exist with a body; because of this participation, the soul animates the object (body) as a living thing. It also has to do with matter and form, where matter can only do any movement or other actions because the soul is the principle behind those actions. He explains, in a way, the relationship between a feeling with a physical act.

For example, being angry can be divided into two stages: partly by the soul, the desire to retaliate, and partly by the body, the blood boiling in our veins. This analogy can also be compared to a house, as its surroundings translate as a place of shelter, which is its purpose; on the other hand, we have its composition through materials such as concrete, wood, insulation and all others; matter and form (Aristotle, 1986). In this essay’s context, matter does not mean the material it is made of, and form does not mean its shape, but matter and form are substances that form the house as a block and its purpose; body and soul.

On De Anima (On the Soul) (1986) translated by Hugh Lawson-Tancred, in chapter six: The Types of senseobject, Aristotle describes the five senses, sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch, through the association with objects, the sense-object as the organ. For example, he explains how vision is related to colour; the colours are determined in each object that reflects through the light. Even though the object can be seen by the shadows, only its whole form can be seen by light. A reflection on the chapter allows us to understand how senses are connected with emotions participating in the architecture of the senses. The feeling created by the soul and the body generates emotion, in this case, using the sense-object organ (the eyes) by looking at a light space with its shadows and colours. It is a general aspect of the human body; the senses are a mechanism to generate emotion in a matter of presence in a space. It can be applied to all the other four senses (Aristotle, 1986).

Aristotle also refers to the idea that we feel not only through the five senses but rather a perception created from a sensation. We do not have the perception that we are seeing or hearing but through that other sense. Something that mentions the act, resulting in this combination of all the senses in one; Sensus Communis. In other words, common sense (Friesen, n.d.) (Figure 2).

The way we look at materials, the smell of the room, the touch of the textures and the noise of the whole can be considered the beginning of understanding connections between architecture and emotions, answering how we change our feelings through the senses.

“I believe in an emotional architecture. It is very important for humankind that architecture should move by its beauty: if there are many equally valid technical solutions to a problem, the one which offers the user a message of beauty and emotion, that one is architecture.” (Barragan, 1976)

Peter Zumthor is known as one of the great Architects to express himself in a way that his designs convey emotions and questions, in the sense of being something that provokes how we see and use spaces, whether public or private. He has demonstrated an attention to detail in his designs, bringing transparency to beauty, emotion and functionality.

Peter Zumthor was born in Switzerland in 1943, his father, Oscar Zumthor, created furniture, and since then, Peter has followed the same path as his father in furniture creation between 1958 and 1962. After that, he also progressed with studies in Design at the Pratt Institute in New York until 1967. Along this path, Peter got work in Switzerland in the department of preservation of monuments, restoration and historic villas. Peter was a very prestigious designer where his works were considered significant in the world of Architecture and Design, and for that, he won several awards, for example, the Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal in Architecture from the University of Virginia in 2006, the Praemium Imperiale from the Japan Art Association in 2008 and also the Pritzeker Prize in 2009. (The Pritzker Architecture Prize, n.d.) (Figure 3).

It is interesting to see how parental influence affects a child’s career. From an early age, Peter saw his carpenter father create products that make a difference in people’s lives. The way his father showed him his techniques and ways of creating must have effectively communicated what can be perceived through the senses, such as sight and touch.

One of the projects where we can see several attributes in transmitting feelings is the Thermal Vals located in Switzerland. The thermal Complex was purpose-built as a purifying space, creating an experience through the union of the mountains and the structure itself. In this project, we can find some of the essential characteristics of this place, light and shadows. Peter specifically uses these two substances as points of engagement with visitors; it creates a space where its occupants can relax, be emotionally and physically moved by its clean architecture. He was inspired by Martin Heidegger’s theories about experiences through the five senses, that’s when he decided to build an architecture that involves interaction with nature and visitors (ArchDaily, 2009). It is a unique experience using Switzerland as the primary terrain because it is there that nature can be explored in depth (Figure 4), feeding emotions that come from within, in this case, the soul.

The Design is very distinctive, and it uses specific materials to reflect the mystical elements of the surrounding Swiss mountain areas where we can see the contrasts between the heat of the bath water and the cold of the mountains. The steam created in the atmosphere with the thermal shock between hot and cold is well thought out, as it complements the mystical environment (Figure 5). It is important to emphasise that thermal waters are used in many places to help heal the body and soul, waters with minerals that have the power to recharge our spiritual energies (AIRE Ancient Baths, n.d.). Silence is present in this project; it impacts the spiritual connection to the body, soul and place.

The materials used in this project are fundamental to revealing Peter’s ideas. At the top, we have covering panels that reflect the surrounding terrain (Figure 6). Peter wanted to reflect the history of the place through materials such as Vals Quartzite, which is used locally. We can also notice the use of materials in horizontal and vertical form, in a modern and clean style (Figure 7). Inside we can see concrete and Quartzite (Figure 8). The Complex was explicitly designed to handle the materials in detail, such as the opening of light points through the rectangular blocks in the ceiling, creating a unique experience for the occupants (Figure 9). As Peter uses materials to express himself in his striking designs, he believes that through specific materials, following his project and place, we can create an architecture of the senses (ArchDaily, 2009). We can again answer our question at hand; materials are also factors in helping to create miraculous spaces for our spiritual and emotional good.

22nd October 2022. Today I feel very frustrated and anxious; what is going on? The first thoughts of today are coffee, Apple store, repair, coffee… coffee. It is a Saturday, and I have an appointment for my MacBook Pro repair at 10:25 am at the Apple Store in Covent Garden. I had to take the DLR from Limehouse to Bank and change for the Central Line to Holborn; then I walked for 10 minutes until I arrived at the Apple Store (Figure 12). The journey is relatively clean in terms of traffic and people, well, I had to be there early on a Saturday morning, so It might be the reason why the journey was upright; not many cars honking going to work and not as many people running around the streets. As I walk, it feels like I am part of the world, just like someone going to resolve day-today things. Was it the atmosphere of the streets lined with large buildings with an architectural style of the past that made me feel like an ordinary human being? Not that this is a bad thing, like an attack on the purpose of living, but an average civilised person gets through the day. I believe that streets like this have a greater capacity to make you walk through them and be moved by their past stories. In this way, as we look around, we begin to wonder what is special about that place, why it was built that way, and what different paths people took to get there.

It has been two years since I have been having issues with this laptop. The problem is that the screen flashes a pixelated white colour background which makes it uncomfortable to see. It is something that the eyes first see, and the body reacts, coming from the eyes towards the brain, generating an emotion. At first, it is possible to think there is something wrong with it, the first thing to do is seek reassurance, and that is what I did. Just one month after purchase, I had to take it to repair, but they could not find any issues; the only thing they did was to erase the operating system and re-install a new one.

Leaving the store, I feel better with the advice I received and how to keep the laptop running better, but still thoughtful. I go back to the metro station the same way. However, this time I saw a coffee shop that caught my attention, not because I had not had breakfast yet, which is also a good reason and one of the most important things to start the day, but because it had a poster showing that they serve Brazilian coffee. Because I was born in Brazil, my origins, I had to try it.

Everything was okay for a bit, but all problems started again; first, it was the flickering screen; what texture is that? (Figure 13) Pink, blue, white and even purple sometimes, could I be inspired to design a cladding or a wallpaper? Probably, but that is not the case here; second, the battery drains too quickly without even any applications open, which was very frustrating.

Leaving the store, I feel better with the advice I received and how to keep the laptop running better, but still thoughtful. I go back to the metro station the same way. However, this time I saw a coffee shop that caught my attention, not because I had not had breakfast yet, which is also a good reason and one of the most important things to start the day, but because it had a poster showing that they serve Brazilian coffee. Because I was born in Brazil, my origins, I had to try it.

So I decide to go in for coffee. My mood is starting to change for the better. I take my coffee and a chocolate muffin to go with it, I look around for a table, and I find a corner with a welcoming space, transmitting peace and making me feel like a corner of home. The corner consists of a wall with traditional English bricks, old photos of children playing, and photos of couples and people in a piazza (Figure 14). I sat by the window where I could see red buses passing by and people walking in different directions. One of the feelings when I sat down, was as if I were at my grandmother’s house having Brazilian coffee. I am so comfortable that I decided to start my essay right here (Figure 15).

The cafeteria has modern and old compositions, such as old leather tables and armchairs; modern lighting with a plaster recess made of small lights that brightens the whole space, but at the same time, old lamps with more direct and pleasant lighting (Figure 16). Near the entrance, we can see the poster with the words “New Coffee Brazil Single Origin”, below a table with high chairs in front of a window overlooking the street (Figure 17).

I can see the entire space from my seat, watching customer and worker interactions. One important thing that caught my attention was the fact that each person who arrived had a neutral smile, but after getting their coffee and sitting at the table, I could see the change in smiles. In a way, this ritual of entering with a certain mood, having a cup of coffee and going out with a different feeling happens quite often in many places. This composition of substances between the place, ingredients such as the materials that make up the place, creates an atmosphere that transforms people’s feelings leading to a path where body and soul come together to increase our mood. It is essentially one of architects and designers’ jobs, to create an atmosphere of the senses where we can overflow with positivity.

“We feel pleasure and protection when the body discovers its resonance in space.” (Pallasmaa, 2005)

I had a completely different thought of how my morning would go. If it weren’t for this coffee shop with that Brazilian poster and its substances of matter and form, I would have remained in a limbo of negative feelings that I was not ready to absorb. It is a mixture of more than one thing, that enables a space to communicate to us. Nevertheless, as things happen outside our plans, we understand that not everything has to be the way we want. So here we can see how the power of the architecture of the senses is something potent that must be kept in mind in the process of creating new buildings and sensitive spaces.

So far, we understand that several aspects must be considered in the architecture of the senses. It is not just through a single way that we can change, through a design, how a person feels in a particular place. It is a challenging and vast subject because it requires many factors to be analysed. We, humans, are complex, just like a building. We cannot say that a design is a single structural block, but there is a whole process for it to be there, the way it is, how it is seen, and how it works. It requires time and patience, and if we want to have a lasting and pleasant experience, an architecture of the senses, we have to observe ourselves, our body and soul, and how we react to a particular colour, light, darkness, sound, smell, flavours and textures. It is a compound of ingredients that forms life on Earth.

To answer the central question: How can a design generate a feeling? The main two substances, Light and Shadow; actions of the body and soul, like our five senses; the materials used in buildings; the connection between nature and architecture; are the main factors to achieve the purpose of a space to generate feelings.

There are thousands of other ways, other senses and different paths to reach this cause. Some have been discovered and analysed; others are simply outside our reach of knowledge as required by philosophers and scholars such as Aristotle and Peter Zumthor.

Perhaps for me, and drawing conclusions about the texts above, I can say that, to create a moving architecture, we have to design something that is out of the ordinary, something that is not expected to be, in terms, unique, by its form, matter, colour and location, with all possible tools discovered so far. Nevertheless, we may have to spend more time looking for something we still do not know, discovering different aspects of the architecture of the senses.

“It’s like our own bodies with their anatomy and things we can’t see and skin covering us - that’s what architecture means to me and that’s how I try to think about it. A bodily mass, a membrane, a fabric, a kind of covering, cloth, velvet, silk, all around me. The body! Not the idea of the body - the body itself! A body that can touch me.” (Zumthor, 2006)

Figure 1. Peter Zumthor, Bruder Klaus Field Chapel, 2007. Light and Shadows creating a tranquil space. [online] Available at: https://divisare.com/projects/328515-peter-zumthor-aldoamoretti-brother-klaus-field-chapel/ (Accessed 2 Jan 2023).

Figure 2. Comenius’ Orbis Pictus (1658). [online] Available at: https://www.normfriesen.info/ papers/McLuhan_Vision_Pedagogy.pdf/ (Accessed 2 Jan 2023).

Figure 3. Peter Zumthor, Pritzker Prize, 2009. [online] Available at: https://www.archdaily. com/23518/pritzker-award-ceremony-peter-zumthor/568351031_-mg-2881/ (Accessed 2 Jan 2023).

Figure 4. Peter Zumthor, The Therme Vals, 1996. By Andrea Ceriani. [online] Available at: https://www.archdaily.com/13358/the-therme-vals/ (Accessed 2 Jan 2023).

Figure 5. Peter Zumthor, The Therme Vals, 1996. Steam generated by the warmess of the water and cold of the air. [online] Available at: https://www.re-thinkingthefuture.com/case-studies/ a2530-therme-vals-spa-in-switzerland-by-peter-zumthor/ (Accessed 2 Jan 2023).

Figure 6. Peter Zumthor, The Therme Vals, 1996. Panels on the roof in parallel with the landscape. [online] Available at: https://www.archdaily.com/13358/the-therme-vals/ (Accessed 2 Jan 2023).

Figure 7. Peter Zumthor, The Therme Vals, 1996. By Andrea Ceriani. Horizontal and vertical materials. [online] Available at: https://www.archdaily.com/13358/the-therme-vals/ (Accessed 2 Jan 2023).

Figure 8. Peter Zumthor, The Therme Vals, 1996. Concrete and Quartzite materials on the Interiors. [online] Available at: https://www.re-thinkingthefuture.com/case-studies/a2530therme-vals-spa-in-switzerland-by-peter-zumthor/ (Accessed 2 Jan 2023).

Figure 9. Peter Zumthor, The Therme Vals, 1996. Lighting on the interiors. [online] Available at: https://www.re-thinkingthefuture.com/case-studies/a2530-therme-vals-spa-in-switzerland-bypeter-zumthor/ (Accessed 2 Jan 2023).

Figure 10. The Therme Vals Floor Plan. [online] Available at: https://www.architectural-review. com/buildings/thermal-baths-in-vals-switzerland-by-peter-zumthor/ (Accessed 2 Jan 2023).

Figure 11. The Therme Vals Sections. [online] Available at: https://www.architectural-review. com/buildings/thermal-baths-in-vals-switzerland-by-peter-zumthor/ (Accessed 2 Jan 2023).

Figure 12. Bressaneli, G (2022) Map of the walk. In possession of: the author.

Figure 13. Bressaneli, G. (2022) Laptop flickering screen. In possession of: the author.

Figure 14. Bressaneli, G (2022) Brick wall corner. In possession of: the author.

Figure 15. Bressaneli, G (2022) Seat View. In possession of: the author.

Figure 16. Bressaneli, G. (2022) Coffee shop interiors. In possession of: the author.

Figure 17. Bressaneli, G. (2022) Brazilian coffee poster sketch. In possession of: the author.

Front Page Figure. Bruder Klaus Field Chapel. [online] Available at: https://www.archdaily. com/798340/peter-zumthors-bruder-klaus-field-chapel-through-the-lens-of-aldo-amoretti (Accessed 2 Jan 2023).

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Millet, M.S. (1996). Light Revealing Architecture. New York ; London : Van Nostrand Reinhold. p.28.

Genesis 1:1-3. The Holy Bible. King James Version.

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Friesen, N. (n.d.). Vision and ‘the training of perception:’ McLuhan’s Medienpädagogik Media and the Senses. [online] Available at: https://www.normfriesen.info/papers/McLuhan_Vision_ Pedagogy.pdf (Accessed 2 Jan 2023).

Devine, M. (2020). Why It Matters Whether Your Home Faces North, South, East, or West. [online] Bob Vila. Available at: https://www.bobvila.com/articles/why-it-matters-which-directionyour-home-faces/ (Accessed 2 Jan 2023).

Thermal baths: luxury for the senses | AIRE Magazine. [online] Available at: https://beaire.com/ en/aire-magazine/thermal-baths-luxury-senses/ (Accessed 2 Jan 2023).