Touching The World

Abstract

Every space has its own meaning and personality. They are associated with various emotions for diverse classes of people. People's memories are attached to spaces. The way spaces feel, as well as the sound and smell of these places, are as important as to how they look. Spaces, in other words, are not discursive; they can be read in ways other than those in which they were written.
We all have such memories in various places, such as your childhood favorite park, your home, your school, the place where you played with your friends, and so on. But we often overlook the fact that these locations would have provided a different experience if there were different trees nearby, different flowers flowering, different grass texture, and so on.

The Eyes of the Skin by Juhani Pallasmaa makes a stronger case for the importance of phenomenological dimensions of human experience in architecture. This article discusses the importance of the senses in experiencing architectural work, as explained by Juhani Pallasmaa.

Self-made collage including Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam, from the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel

Introduction

The philosophical and psychological ‘science of experiences' is known as phenomenology. Based on their lived experiences, each person has a unique set of choices and preferences. Phenomenology demonstrated in architecture is the manipulation of space, material, and light and shadow to create a memorable encounter through an impact on the human senses. This theory promotes the integration of sensory perception as a function of a built form. This creates an experience that is beyond tangible, but rather abstract, observed and perceived. Prominent architects, such as Daniel Libeskind, Steven Holl, and Peter Zumthor were described by Juhani Pallasmaa as current practitioners of the phenomenology of architecture.

Sunset at Salk Institute for Biological Sciences, California (Architect- Louis I. Kahn)

Bruder Klaus Field Chapel, Mechernich, Germany (Architect- Peter Zumthor)

Lessons from Juhani Pallasmaa

Pallasmaa's book 'Eyes of the Skin' connects our senses to architectural works. It describes how we respond to the world around us and how our senses and contexts influence us. This book is extremely relevant in today's context, when there is a bias towards vision (the eye) and suppression of other senses in the way architectural works are conceived, taught, and critiqued. People generally want their buildings or designed environments to be aesthetically pleasing to the eye, but they are unaware of the significance of other senses in experiencing the world. This book teaches young designers and architecture students the importance of sensory responses in a space in addition to sense of vision.

"With the title 'The Eyes of the Skin' I wished to express the significance of the tactile sense for our experience and understanding of the world."

When viewing an object, the texture of the surface is as important as the colour or shape. The texture can be judged by the eye as well, but its tactile form cannot be determined until the object is touched. When we try to perceive the world around us, our tactile sense is severely suppressed. In my opinion, the tactile sense is far more important than the visual sense. For example, we can see the texture of stone on the floor, but we only know its tactile form- its roughness, the nature of grooves, and so on- when we touch the stone with our hands and walk over it.

Importance of Touch. (Kala Gram, Manimajra, Chandigarh)

"The very essence of the lived experience is molded by hapticity and peripheral unfocused vision."

We perceive the world through our eyes. However, there are two types of vision: Focused vision and Peripheral vision. When we look at an object, it is our Focused vision that helps us focus on details, and the environment surrounding the focused object is seen through Peripheral vision-it helps to provide context for the object. Peripheral vision integrates us with space, whereas Focused vision pushes us out of it, reducing us to mere observers. Our perceptions of the world are primarily based on our tactile sense and peripheral vision. 

Consider a cabin in the woods, which is both cozy and beautiful. The interior spaces of the cabin are clearly visible. Through the fog, you can see dense forest in the background, as well as some trees in the foreground. Birds can also be heard chirping in the distance. A water stream can also be heard in the distance. In this example, your focused vision is observing and focusing on details in the cabin, but your peripheral vision and tactile sense provide an accurate description of the context. This contextual information will aid you in recalling memories of this cabin. You can now recall the cabin and the memories associated with it due to your sense of touch and peripheral information. You can even visualize it. Thus our lived experiences are made up of the peripheral vision and hapticity.

Architectural visualization of a Cabin in the Woods (Ronen Bekerman Blog)

"It is evident that 'life-enhancing' architecture has to address all the senses simultaneously and fuse our image of self with our experience of the world."

Great works of architecture should engage all of the senses at the same time, allowing the viewer to fully appreciate the architectural marvel. We crave pleasurable experiences all the time because they make us feel more alive and help us realize our full potential. These pleasurable moments are simply those in which our senses are positively addressed. This is not always possible. As a result, we have a tendency to fantasize about our own world of pleasure. But if all of our spaces strived to engage the senses in order for us to experience them, we would get ultimate pleasure and be happy in the real world as well. Today's architectural designs are limited to creating appealing visuals for the eye and do not respond to or acknowledge the other senses. Instead, architecture should project and reflect on its surroundings while also adding meaning to them. It must make us experience ourselves. To create impactful and memorable spaces, one must consider these more subtle aspects as well.

When I am in a designed space, I bring my emotions and associations with me, and the space gives me its aura, which entices and liberates my perceptions and thoughts. A work of architecture is experienced not as a series of isolated retinal images, but as a fully integrated material, embodied, and spiritual essence. It provides pleasurable shapes and surfaces molded for the touch of the eye and other senses, but it also incorporates and integrates physical and mental structures, strengthening the coherence and significance of our existential experience.

Give your emotions to the space, and the space will give you its aura. (ISKCON Vrindavan, Uttar Pradesh)

"Instead of creating mere objects of visual seduction, architecture relates, mediates and projects meanings. The ultimate meaning of any building is beyond architecture; it directs our consciousness back to the world and towards our own sense of self and being. Significant architecture makes us experience ourselves as complete embodied and spiritual beings."