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by the emblematic impact of the field of the wall that frames
the opening.
Literature: Baecker 1990; Feldtkeller 1989> body (architectural), image, sensory perception, surface
> body (human), furnishing, interior, movement, postures
> dwelling, orientation, ritual, route
> architecture, experience, sceneUnlike the priority of vision for pictures or hearing for music,
no one of the five senses can be identified as paramount for
the perception of architecture. Strictly speaking, architectural
space cannot be grasped solely through vision, hearing or
touch, for these provide perceptual access only to individual
qualities or elements within space. The perception of a situa-
tion within architectural space requires a comprehensive sen-
sorium in which all the senses participate.
On the surface, perceptions of architecture are domi-
nated by vision. Because the space of vision is most clearly
structured, it is the basis for the articulation of the space of
perception for all of the senses. It offers the kind of overview
that the others senses cannot provide, and is translated most
easily into an abstract spatial order and its objective repre-
sentation. In contrast, the space of hearing is rather oriented
towards the hearer’s own body. While the directed > gaze
identifies the elements of space, > sound is perceived through
the sense of hearing – in a way similar to brightness or dark-
ness through vision, or > odour through the sense of smell- as something that fills in and colours the space around us.
Through the > haptic sense, we feel our own bodies in resist-
ance to other bodies; the sense of touch brings us into contact
with the > materiality of objects, and tends – in contrast to
the distancing control function of the eye – to a more affec-
tive form of involvement. When the skin – our largest sensory
Sculpture
Seating
Security
Self-referentiality
Sensory perception