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1. BACHELOR OF SCIENCE (HONOURS) IN ARCHITECTURE
THEORIES OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM
(ARC61303)
SYNOPSIS: REACTION PAPER (MARCH 2018)
Name: Heng Sy Hua ID No.: 0321999
Lecturer: Mr. Prince Tutorial Time: 1000-1200
Reader/Text Title: ‘The Eyes of the Skin’ Synopsis No: 3
Author: Juhani Pallasmaa
In this article Juhani Pallasmaa pointed out his main point from the words,”I will survey the interaction if
senses and gave some personal impression of the realms of senses in the expression and experience in
architecture.” (Page 39) Pallasmaa explained on how different space will affect the body senses and thus
effects the user experience.
Pallasmaa pointed out that human body is actually the center of the experiential world as all sensory
experience is actually generated out from the human body. Experience and senses can only be detected
when our body has movement and interaction with the environment. With this theory, Pallasmaa also
concluded that one of the factor that creates memory is our mind is due its effect to our body.
Also, Pallasmaa pointed out the importance of multi-sensory experience, where no senses can be
standing alone without one another, evidence can be seen from the sentence “Every touching experience
of architecture is multi-sensory…” (Page 41) Furthermore, sense of touch is defines as the fundamental of
the senses as it creates body memory from the experience. Sense of touch provides the sensations of
solidity, resistance and protrusion however it could not have the idea of distance and outness. On the
other hand, sense of sight will give the viewer a sense of space and distance. Hence, this has conclude
the importance of multi-sensory experience.
Apart from that, Pallasmaa also suggested that a good architecture has to be generated from an
indivisible complex of impressions where sensory and experience of an individual is included. A perfect
example can be seen in The church of light by Tadao Ando. Brilliant use of the sense of touch and sight
can be seen in the architecture where Ando used the texture, solidity and the light to increase the holiness
and solemnness of the space, thus give a larger impact to the users.
In a nutshell, the article constantly pointed out the importance of incorporate multi-sensory experience
into a design in order to create a good architecture. However, building nowadays often lack of the quality
as most of them focus more on functionality than user experience. Hence, this article can be a useful
guidance for architects to infuse sensory experience in their design.
Word Count: 369 Mark Grade
Assessed by: Date 22/5 Page No. 3