“Shifts in Perception through Tactile Sensations”

“Touch is the sensory mode which integrates our experiences of the world and ourselves.” – Juhani Pallasmaa

The bias that vision holds over the profession of architecture suppresses all of the other senses. In Greece, optical refinements were implemented to create the illusion that a structure was visually “perfect”. The hegemonic eye, with its ability to absorb information faster than any other sense, has allowed designers to create buildings that “look” good, but might not necessarily “feel” good. Pallasmaa once stated that “touch is a parent of our eyes, ears, nose and mouth.” Tactile sensations can affect a person’s social behavior, self-perception, enjoyment and comfort within a building. Three dimensional space can be deceiving through our lens of vision. However, the tactile and haptic sensations that we experience do not misguide us. It is important to explore how tactility can be leveraged to enhance our perception of space, while diminishing the ocular-centric bias that we hold today.

The questions that I would like to explore involve;

• How do tactile sensations affect the way we behave in space?
• What type of materials evoke tactile responses that affect our perception and behavior in space?
• Is it possible to move away from the ocular-centric culture of design and move towards one of tactility and hapticity?
• Is it more important to create architecture that “looks” good? What if we design for what “feels” good?