Sensthetics

Sensthetics - Upali Nanda

I woke up yesterday, confused. I saw Iraq on TV, heard Beatles on the radio, and smelt my mother's curry. It was warm inside, snowing outside, and I knew at least some of my senses were lying to me. I just didn't know which ones. In a technologically sophisticated world our senses are constantly assaulted. Traditionally, architectural theory has had a visual bias. "Other" senses are considered secondary and independent of the visual. Yet, sounds seem louder in a dark room and food is tasteless with a stuffy nose; our senses are connected perceptually-what we see affects what we hear and what we smell affects what we taste. This book investigates the connections among different sense modalities and their impact on what we pay attention to in our environments. A case study in an urban plaza investigates how we construct subjective and embodied mental maps of our environments. A theoretical framework illustrates the interdependence of sensory, kinesthetic and cognitive factors, and the hier­archical and lateral relationship between sense-modalities. Case studies with architecture students explore these relationships in conceptual thinking. This book offers a "Sensthetic Model" -a conceptual tool to think "across" modalities that can help professionals and students to design, study or experience sensory environments. It is a step beyond the aesthetics of appear­ance, towards a Sensthetics of Experience.