Essay

Do you design architecture by targeting the five classical senses: visual, aural, haptic, olfactory, and taste? Furthermore, do you treat these modalities as sensory channels that exist independent of one another, like wires that never cross-talk?

In one of my latest research case study projects, I explore how architectural design can leverage the visual sense, by converging it with the haptic sense. Within this research project, I ask: How can architecture do more to communicate through each sensory channel?

For example: How can architectural design invite visual touch, aural touch, and even olfactory touch?

This line of questioning leads to what I call “Extended Reality (XR) Architecture”, that communicates even more sensory information through each perceptual channel. You may ask: Why is this important?

Imagine a nature scene. Better yet, look outside through a window. This is what I was doing, when a university professor asked me: “Have you ever wondered how you can infer the temperature outside while being inside?” I began to wonder: What cues do nature’s atmospheres reveal that signal aspects like temperature through only the visual sense?

In my design research project, I create new cross-talking experiences that fuse the visual with the haptic. I am devising ways for architecture to communicate more within the visual by extending the perception of color, location, size, and motion, to include more detailed aspects of temperature, texture, pressure, and softness. In this way, architects can create more personalized narratives to better meet occupant needs and goals.

Now, I invite you to uncover how your architectural designs can do more to communicate through each sensory modality. Can your designs for the visual, aural, haptic, olfactory, and even taste communicate with occupants on a more nuanced level? Start to discover what architectural design can do by thinking deeply about sensory cross-talk.