ARCHITECTURE FOR THE SENSES: A MORE-THAN

VISUAL APPROACH TO MUSEUM ARCHITECTURE

DILIP MURALIDHARAN
 Architecture for The Senses
A more-than visual approach to Museum Architecture

A thesis submitted to the

Graduate School
of the University of Cincinnati
in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of

Master of Architecture

in College of Design, Art, Architecture and Planning

by

Dilip Muralidharan

Bachelor of Architecture
Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, 2012

Committee Chair: Jeffrey Tilman. Ph.D.

Committe member: Vincent Sansalone, M.Arch
Figure 1: Blurred Cityscape; Being there; by Joe Cox (flickr)
.01
Abstract
Architecture is essentially considered as a visual experience and is arguably categorized un-

der visual arts. The built environment around us with which we interact with daily, is often

designed and perceived visually, which accounts for the visual bias in architecture. The space

confined by architectural boundaries is often mistaken as emptiness, devoid of any medium. Vi-

sual qualities of our built environment are often prioritized over the architectural experiences

it should be creating through collaboration of our senses.

If we consider space as a living entity capable of stimulating our senses, it opens a whole new

world of sensory cues waiting to interact with the inhabitant’s senses. This world of senso-

ry information includes light and shadow, color and contrast, scale and proportion, textures

and materiality, reverberating sound, varying temperatures, smells that seduce us, and many

more. Our senses interact with this sensory environment, which in fact, instills a sense of place

in our brain, thus creating a permanent memory which pins ourselves to the location through

proprioception. The architectural experience created by built environment plays a major role in

imparting this sense of place within us, and that’s the reason why architects should identify and

perceive the experiential quality of the spaces early in their design process.

i
Through this thesis project I’d like to address the issue of visual bias in architecture, and design

a Museum curating natural elements, with focus on creating an experience by encouraging its

users to interact and perceive with one or all of their senses, the unity of senses. The differ-

ent physical states of matter and other material properties that enables natural elements;

Earth, Air, Water, and Fire; to stimulate more than one sense in our body will be used to create

more-than-visual sensory experiences within the museum. The Winter Garden combines all

these perceptions into one holistic sensory experience by engaging non-visual senses, hence

the unity of senses, that acts as an urban sanctuary which in turn creates a sense of place, pro-

viding opportunity for visitors to contemplate, or interact with nature within the museum en-

velope, even during those frigid days of Chicago winters.

iii
.02
Acknowledgements
Firstly, I would like to thank my thesis advisor Prof. Jeff Tilman for all his valuable feedback,

patient guidance, enthusiastic encouragement and useful critiques. He consistently helped me

keep up my progress on schedule and steered me in the right direction when I needed it.

Finally, I would like to thank my parents and friends for supporting and encouraging me

throughout my years of study. This would not have been possible without them.

v
.00
Table of Contents

.01
Abstract i

.02
Acknowledgment v

.03 List of Figures ix

.04
Introduction 1

.05
Our Sensorial World 7

.06 Museum Architecture & The Senses 17

.07
Precedents 21

.08
The Site 31

.09
The Program 35

.10
Design Approach 37

.11
Conclusion 57

.12
Bibliography 61

vii
.03
List of Figures
Figure 1 Blurred Cityscape; Being there, by Joe Cox (flickr); Source: https://hiveminer.com/Tags/layer
ing%2Ctexture
Figure 2 Rise of Buildings for the deaf and the blind; Published in The Economist; by Andrea Ucini; Source:
https://www.economist.com/christmas-specials/2018/12/18/the-rise-of-buildings-for-the-deaf-
and-blind; 2018
Figure 3 The sensorial world around us; Published in The Conversation; by Shutterstock; Source: http://thecon
versation.com/simple-thinking-in-a-complex-world-is-a-recipe-for-disaster-69718; 2016
Figure 4 Built-environment and the Sense of Sound and hearing; In a Tunnel by Melina Meza; Source: http://
yogaforhealthyaging.blogspot.com/2013/10/pratyahara-sense-of-sound-and-hearing.html; 2013
Figure 5 Sandalwood that is used to create perfumes; by Olfactory Groups; Source: https://perfumuschicago.
wordpress.com/olfactory-groups/
Figure 6 Interactive hanging rug design; by Giles Miller; Source: https://dornob.com/wall-carpet-gone-wild-in
teractive-hanging-rug-design/;
Figure 7 Enfilade; published in MONU magazine on Urbanism Volume #21; Source: http://www.op-al.com/
monu-vol-21-1-1; 2015
Figure 8 Inter-mezzo; published in MONU magazine on Urbanism Volume #21; Source: http://www.op-al.com/
monu-vol-21-1-1; 2015
Figure 9 Street grid; published in MONU magazine on Urbanism Volume #21; Source: http://www.op-al.com/
monu-vol-21-1-1; 2015
Figure 10 NAMOC Section; by OMA; Source: https://oma.eu/projects/national-art-museum-of-china; 2011
Figure 11 NAMOC Plan; published in MONU magazine on Urbanism Volume #21; Source: http://www.op-al.
com/monu-vol-21-1-1; 2015
Figure 12 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art Plan; published in MONU magazine on Urbanism Volume
#21; Source: http://www.op-al.com/monu-vol-21-1-1; 2015
Figure 13 Louvre Abu Dhabi Section; Published in Archdaily; by Ateliers Jean Nouvel; Source: https://www.arch
daily.com/793182/in-progress-louvre-abu-dhabi-jean-nouvel/57acdcafe58eceaff600011b-in-prog
ress-louvre-abu-dhabi-jean-nouvel-elevations; 2016
Figure 14 Louvre Abu Dhabi Plan; published in MONU magazine on Urbanism Volume #21; Source: http://www.
op-al.com/monu-vol-21-1-1; 2015
Figure 15 Blur Building Elevation View; by DS+R Architects; Source: https://dsrny.com/project/blur-building;
2002
Figure 16 The Braincoat, Blur Building Connectivity Metaphor by DS+R Architects; published in Anniversary
Magazine; Source: https://www.anniversary-magazine.com/all/2017/1/9/the-blur-buildings-con
nectivity-metaphor-by-diller-scofidio-renfro
Figure 17 Pond with Duckweed. View of The Mediated Motion Exhibition, by Olafur Eliasson; Source: https://
olafureliasson.net/archive/exhibition/EXH101073/the-mediated-motion; 2001
Figure 18 Floor of gently sloped compressed soil. by Olafur Eliasson; Source: https://olafureliasson.net/ar
chive/exhibition/EXH101073/the-mediated-motion; 2001

ix
Figure 19 Suspension bridge spanning foggy room. by Olafur Eliasson; Source: https://olafureliasson.net/ar
chive/exhibition/EXH101073/the-mediated-motion; 2001
Figure 20 The Proposed Site, from Google Earth
Figure 21 Railway lines around site. by author
Figure 22 Existing parks nearby the site. by author
Figure 23 Bridges around the site. by author
Figure 24 Public transport accessibility around site. by author
Figure 25 5min walk-ability radius from site. by author
Figure 26 Site analysis maps combined. by author
Figure 27 The model of a multisensory perpetual object. Publised in Synesthetic Design: Handbook for a multi
sensory approach, by Michael Haverkamp; Birkhauser Basel Publication
Figure 28 Conceptual sectional perspective. by author
Figure 29 Design Option1; Site access, primary and secondary, by author
Figure 30 Design Option 1; Inward urban sanctuary because of surrounding skyscrapers. by author
Figure 31 Design Option 1; Views from the site. by author
Figure 32 Design Option 1; Level 1. by author
Figure 33 Design Option 1; Level 2. by author
Figure 34 Design Option 1; Level 3. by author
Figure 35 Design Option 1; Level 4. by author
Figure 36 Design Option 1; Green roof acting as Public Plaza. by author
Figure 37 Experience Map describing the case study of the Pulse concept, by Deepdesign; Camere, Serena &
Schifferstein, Rick & Bordegoni, Monica; The Experience Map. A tool to support Experience-driven
Multi Sensory design; 2015
Figure 38 Design Option 1; Parti Diagram, by author
Figure 39 Design Option 1; Parti Diagram, by author
Figure 40 Tyndall effect in woods during sunrise. Photo by Romeo Scheidegger; Source: https://pixabay.com/
photos/sunbeam-rays-sun-forest-540589/; 2014
Figure 41 The Earth Gallery conceptual view. by author
Figure 42 Interaction with natural water; Photograph by Steven Webber; Source: https://500px.com/stevenweb
ber; 2016
Figure 43 The Water Gallery conceptual view; by author
Figure 44 Sandalwood on fire creating aroma, crackling sounds, and smoke; Photograph by Nikki To; Source:
https://www.foodrepublic.com/2018/03/01/humans-harnessing-fire/; 2018
Figure 45 The Fire Gallery Conceptual View; by author
Figure 46 Humans navigating in a space restricting sight, a foggy experience; by Tokkoro; Source: https://www.
tokkoro.com/2968380-mist-women-monochrome.html
Figure 47 The Air Gallery Conceptual View; by author
Figure 48 The Winter Garden, combining all sensory experiences into a holistic one, the unity of senses;
Interiors of the Small Hermitage, The Winter Garden; by Eduard Hau; 1865; Source: https://de.wikipe
dia.org/ wiki/Datei:Hau._Interiors_of_the_Small_Hermitage._The_Winter_Garden._1865.jpg
Figure 49 Design Option 2 conceptual drawings; by author

xi
Figure 2: Rise of Buildings for the deaf and the blind; Published in The Economist;
by Andrea Ucini
.04
Introduction
We interact with built environment around us using all our senses knowingly or unknowingly,

and yet visual qualities get most of the attention in architecture. One reason for this bias could

be the visual techniques used by architects to conceptualize and develop designs. The built

environment around us with which we interact with daily, is often designed and perceived

visually, which accounts for the visual bias in architecture. The space confined by architectural

boundaries is often mistaken as emptiness, and that accounts for this visual bias. If we consid-

er this space as a living entity capable of stimulating our senses, it opens a whole new world

of sensory cues waiting to interact with its inhabitant’s senses. This world of sensory informa-

tion includes light and shadow, color and contrast, scale and proportion, textures and materi-

ality, reverberating sound, varying temperatures, smells that seduce us, and many more. It is

this space that helps us interact with the boundaries that confine them. We use our senses as

a medium of communication to interact with, understand and experience space through hap-
tic, tactile, auditory and olfactory channels. Sight, hearing, smelling and touch are the sensory

modalities that play a dominating role in spatial perception in humans.

Contemporary architecture is heavily based on visual qualities and seems to be focused in

creating photogenic sculptural pieces devoid of any sensory experiential qualities. Our sens-

es play an important role in our ability to self-locate within the context and create a sense

of awareness of the geometrical shapes around us. These photogenic pieces have created

architectural spaces that are too cold for human interaction. The over dependence on visual

characteristics and the lack of attention for non-visual senses have created spaces that fail to

1
2
interact with our sensory receptors, which is essential for the experience of a place. Our eyes

alone are not quite enough to comprehend and enjoy a complete architectural experience.

Protection from natural elements has been the core idea of architecture since its beginning

centuries ago, and is still our fundamental concern today. Each of these elements, i.e. air, wa-

ter, earth and fire, possess different properties at different physical states of existence. For

example, ice is a completely different material from water, and in between we have snow

which is a not at all like both water or ice. All these different states of water causes different

sensations when we interact with it, stimulating different human body senses. For example,

the sound of flowing water is considered soothing and is known for its therapeutic properties.

In this thesis, I intend to use these different states of existence and properties of natural el-

ements to create a multi-sensory urban environment designed to interact with our senses

encompassing a more-than visual approach; a healing and meditation ground to contemplate

their very existence, even after the insentient atrocities inflicted by humans upon nature. In

this thesis project, each of the natural elements would be curated in gallery spaces, waiting to

interact and stimulate our senses, and create a sense of place. These gallery spaces will inter-

act with a central winter garden; a space that reinforces the unity of senses and the extends of

our relationship with nature, and yet feel like being in an urban sanctuary; a feeling constructed

by the transparency of its boundaries, the low height sunken building typology, and the winter

garden envelope, all in a museum experience.

3
4
The museum experience is a multi-layered journey that is proprioceptive, sensory, intellectu-

al, aesthetic, and social.1 For this reason, museums should be designed to create multi-lay-

ered and complex interactions between visual, auditory, olfactory, spatial, and other aspects

of the visitor’s experience. In this thesis, a museum for the senses will be designed to create a

multi-sensory urban experience, which will be very different from the traditional uni-sensory

visual experience offered by museums, where exhibits are often behind glass or are out of

reach.

1  Levent, Nina & Pascual-Leone, Alvaro; Page no.- xiii; The Multisensory Museum: cross-disciplinary perspectives on
touch, sound, smell, memory, and space; Rowman & Littlefield Publications, USA; 2014

5
Figure 3: The sensorial world around us; Published in The Conversation; by Shutterstock

6
.05
Our Sensorial World
Our perception of the world around us is a multi-sensory experience. This built environment

around us is a rich sensory environment waiting to interact with our senses, and yet we depend

mostly on visual aids to experience it. Human possesses five most commonly known senses;

sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste, and the lesser known senses of heat (thermoception),

pain (nociception), balance (equilibrioception) and direction (proprioception). We use all these

senses in interacting with our built environment around us on a day to day basis, knowingly

and unknowingly. The idea of photogenic architecture has created a genre in architecture that

heavily relies on visual qualities and underestimates the value and essence of those complex

interactions between human senses and the built environment.

The heavy dependence on visual architectural qualities have created buildings that fail to in-

teract with humans, creating undesirable architectural spaces lacking hapticity, tactility and

acoustic comfort. The architecture of our time is turning into the retinal art of the eye.2 More-

over, this over dependence on visual aids for interacting with our surroundings often super-

sedes the other non-visual senses and cogently mute them over time. The intention of archi-

tectural design is to bring about complete satisfaction in inhabitant’s experiences of spaces,

and involvement of more than one sensory stimulus would be imperative for achieving that. In

order to design with a specific effect in mind, architects should identify and perceive the expe-

2  Pallasmaa, Juhani; Page no.- 41; An Architecture of Seven Senses; From Questions of Perception: Phenomenology of
Architecture, edited by Steven Holl, Juhani Pallasmaa, and Alberto Perez-Gomez; a+u Publishing Co., Ltd. Tokyo, Japan; 1994

7
Figure 4 Built-environment and the Sense of Sound and hearing; In a Tunnel;
by Melina Meza

8
riential quality of spaces early in the design process.3

Being architects, understanding how a building sounds like is as important as thinking about

how good it looks. Building materials have an innate sound and acoustic properties associated

with them, that affects the built environment depending on the material and its usage. For

example; shiny, and lustrous metallic surfaces would be undesirable for the interiors of an

auditorium or concert hall because of its poor sound absorption qualities, which would cre-

ate undesirable acoustical environment with huge amounts of echo and reverberation. Sound

plays a very important role in our daily perception of places. People with visual impairment rely

mostly on sound for information about their immediate surroundings, thus creating a height-

ened sensation towards sound. Sight is often accompanied by sound cues, and this helps us

in creating an image about the place we just saw, even before physically reaching the place at

that moment. We depend on resonance, loudness, intensity and environmental noise to rec-

ognize different places.4 However, Juhani Pallasmaa argues that the most essential auditory

experience created by architecture is tranquility. Architecture presents the drama of construc-

tion silenced into matter and space; architecture is the art of petrified silence.5

3  Dehnadfar, Damineh Pegah; Page no.- 31; Crafting Architectural Experiences: Exploring Memory Places; Perkins+Will
Research Journal Vol 08.02; 2016

4  Yeung, Cherry; Page no.- 23; The In/Visible: “Common Senses” Architecture; School of Architecture, Carleton University,
Canada; 2007

5  Pallasmaa, Juhani; Page no.- 43; An Architecture of Seven Senses; From Questions of Perception: Phenomenology of
Architecture, edited by Steven Holl, Juhani Pallasmaa, and Alberto Perez-Gomez; a+u Publishing Co., Ltd. Tokyo, Japan; 1994

9
Figure 5: Sandalwood that is used to create perfumes; by Olfactory Groups

10
The sense of touch instills a feeling of proof and verifies what we see using the sense of vision.

The skin reads the texture, weight, density and temperature of matter.6 Touch helps us appre-

ciate the very existence of a material, its materiality and texture. Cherry Yeung argues that all

physical senses are an extension of touch.7 The sense of touch involves the physical being and

existence of the touch and the object being touched, thus making it one of the most personally

experienced sense. Humans have no other way other than the sense of touch to confirm and

appreciate the texture of a material that we just saw, thus leaving a memory in us through

tactile experience by combining sense of vision and touch. The validation of an environment

is particularly important in linking us with our existence and connecting us to the “here and

now”.8

The sense of smell may be considered as the most personal of all the senses after touch. Every

object around us produce a variety of faint smells that touches our nostrils thus creating an

olfactory experience in our brain linking the past to the present. For example, different types of

soil emanate a variety of faint odors depending on their mineral constituents. Different types

of smells around us, both desirable and non-desirable, plays an important role in creating a

sense of personal experience in our brains. A smell may not be experienced the same way by

6  Ibid; Page no.- 45

7  Yeung, Cherry; Page no.- 24; The In/Visible: “Common Senses” Architecture; School of Architecture, Carleton University,
Canada; 2007

8  Stein, Sarah; Architecture and the Senses: A Sensory Musing Park, Phenomenology of Sensory Experience; 2006, as
cited by Liang Liu; Page no.- 10; A generator of Sensory Architectures; MIT, USA; 2017

11
12
different people, thus creating different images of the same place or, different memory places.

Moreover, there is no better way to describe or explain a smell other that experiencing the

smell itself. Therefore, it wouldn’t be a wise idea for architects to use a specific smell to create

a specific mood, since the olfactory experience could be desirable or undesirable depending on

the inhabitant’s interaction with the environment. Architects might wish to utilize the variety

of faint odors produced by different natural elements to create a specific architectural expe-

rience. For example, different types of wood burn differently and produces different types of

odors or aroma, depending on the type of wood being burnt; creating memory place experi-

ence by linking memories from past to that of present. The smell of the soil after the first rain

of the season has one of the most refreshing fragrances ever and is regarded soothing by

most people.

It is difficult to directly associate the sense of taste with architecture. Although, sense of taste

plays an significant role in our sensory system in creating an image of the place. For example,

humans are more likely to relate a city, street, or any place, with the taste of food that we en-

joyed from there the last time, thus leaving a permanent image about that place in our brain by

linking all those sensory information gathered by taste, vision and smell sensory channels. Al-

though architects have no control over how users would interact and enjoy the taste in archi-

tectural design, it could create avenues for cafeterias, eateries and restaurants as social gath-

ering places in an urban scenario, thus instilling a sense of place through gustatory sensations.

13
Figure 6: Interactive hanging rug design; by Giles Miller

14
The lesser known senses; namely thermoception, nociception, equilibrioception, and proprio-

ception; play an equally important role in creating an embodied architectural experience. In

his article An Architecture of Seven Senses, Juhani Pallasmaa talks about the importance and

relevance of gravity in architecture and how an architect envisions a built environment using

all these senses. Pallasmaa argues that,

....while designing, an architect internalizes a building in his body; movement, balance, distance and

scale are felt unconsciously through the body as tension in the muscular system and in the positions

of the skeleton and inner organs. As the work interacts with the body of the observer the experience

mirrors these bodily sensations of the maker. Consequently, architecture is communication from the

body of the architect directly to the body of the inhabitant. The sense of gravity is the essence of all

architectonic structures and great architecture makes us conscious of gravity and earth. Architecture

strengthens verticality of our experience of the world. At the same time architecture makes us aware

of the depth of earth, it makes us dream of levitation and flight.9

9  Pallasmaa, Juhani; Page no.- 48; An Architecture of Seven Senses; From Questions of Perception: Phenomenology of
Architecture, edited by Steven Holl, Juhani Pallasmaa, and Alberto Perez-Gomez; a+u Publishing Co., Ltd. Tokyo, Japan; 1994

15
Figure 7: Enfilade; published in MONU magazine on Urbanism Volume #21

16
.06
Museum Architecture & The Senses
Modern day museums are much more than just collections of ancient artifacts to be preserved

for future generations. They are centers of learning, community centers, social hubs. even

places of healing and contemplation.10 The museum or the exhibitionary complex, as an ar-

chitectural type, has throughout its history been a functional problem of creating a world of

worlds.11 Museums should deliver a multi-sensory environment by the combined interactions

between different sensory aspects like visual, auditory, olfactory and spatial.

Visitors expect the museum visit to be a sensory treat, and architectural attempts to create

a sense of curiosity in unraveling different spaces of the museum adds on depth to the ex-

periential qualities. Visitors often have mixed expectations before going to a museum. Some

people go to museums to view and experience particular exhibits and installations. Whereas,

there are some others who spend their post lunch time walking leisurely and meandering in

and around the museum spaces soaking up the atmosphere. Fiona Zisch, Stephen Gage, and

Hugo Spiers argues that this behavior is interesting from an architectural viewpoint. According

to them this behavior is both spatial and non-spatial at the same time.

It is spatial, but it is not in the first instance spatially goal directed. It is cultural, but it relies

inherently on multi-sensory input rather than being based uniquely in language and conven-

10  Levent, Nina & Pascual-Leone, Alvaro; Page no.- xiii; The Multisensory Museum: cross-disciplinary perspectives on
touch, sound, smell, memory, and space; Rowman & Littlefield Publications, USA; 2014

11  Scelsa, Jonathan A.; Enfiladed Grids: The Museum as City; MONU Magazine on Urbanism Volume #21, The Netherlands;
2014

17
Figure 8: Inter-mezzo; published in MONU magazine on Urbanism Volume #21

Figure 9: Street grid; published in MONU magazine on Urbanism Volume #21

18
tions, and it is social, as browsers often have a parallel social agenda.12

Historically, the rooms of the art gallery have been arranged in an “enfilade,” a planometric tes-

sellation of rooms usually orthogonal in nature, wherein their thresholds are designed to align

along a linear axis. This room configuration, typically constructed at the domestic scale, has

been the predominant spatial relationship exercised in museum design.13 According to Jona-

than, the linear circulation path of the orthogonal rooms was later replaced by an intermediate

corridor connecting different orthogonal spaces, which was later improvised to a street-grid

like pattern.

Several contemporary museums used the same concept of Enfilade Development 14 and devel-

oped a plannimetric approach that resembled urban street grids. The corridors that connect

different fuctional spaces within these museums looked like the arterial system of the city;

creating avenues for multi-sensory urban spaces within the realm of the museum structure.

These contemporary museum designs suggests that this new approach started viewing mu-

seum as a place of urban activity with streets connecting different functional parts.

12  Zisch, Fiona & Gage, Stephen & Spiers, Hugo; Page no.- 215; Navigating the Museum; Nina Levent, Alvaro Pascual-Le-
one; The Multisensory Museum: cross-disciplinary perspectives on touch, sound, smell, memory, and space; Rowman &
Littlefield Publications, USA; 2014

13  Scelsa, Jonathan A. ; Enfiladed Grids: The Museum as City; MONU Magazine on Urbanism Volume #21, The Nether-
lands; 2014

14 Ibid

19
Figure 10: NAMOC Section; by OMA

Figure 11: NAMOC Plan; published in MONU magazine on Urbanism

Volume #21

20
.07
Precedents
National Art Museum of China - OMA
Location Beijing, China

Year 2011

Status Competition

OMA claims that NAMOC is the first museum in the world to be conceived as a small city. To

plan NAMOC as a city does not mean that it cannot offer the intimacy that remains the essence

of the museum experience: like any city, its individual parts can be small and humane. But like

a city, it will offer a degree of variety that will be unique for a single museum. Part of it will

be public, other parts could be commercial.15 The plan consists of a central node that divides

the museum building into five different main zones by five grand corridors that act like urban

streets. This plan offers users to have a more options to interact with the built environment

, since it facilitates both direct point to point movement and peripatetic walking possibilities.

15  Office for Metropolitan Architecture OMA; National Art Museum of China; https://oma.eu/projects/national-art-muse-
um-of-china

21
Figure 12: 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art Plan; published in MONU magazine
on Urbanism Volume #21

22
.07
Precedents
21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art - SANAA
Location Kanazawa, Japan

Year 1999 - 2004

Status Completed

The plan is circular in shape, and thus has no directional front or back, leaving it for users to

explore it from all directions. The gallery spaces are designed as a series of boxes of differing

shape and size that are arranged within a large circular mass. These gallery boxes are separat-

ed by 3m wide corridors that allows circulation around and between the gallery spaces thus

forming a network of urban grid. The museum’s circular form allows the supplemental “ring-

road” of circulation, creating a space for patrons to quickly circumnavigate the museum’s floor

plan along its glazed outer periphery.16

16  Scelsa, Jonathan A.; Enfiladed Grids: The Museum as City; MONU Magazine on Urbanism Volume #21, The Netherlands;
2014

23
Figure 13: Louvre Abu Dhabi Section; Published in Archdaily; by Ateliers Jean Nouvel

Figure 14: Louvre Abu Dhabi Plan; published in MONU magazine on Urbanism Volume #21

24
.07
Precedents
Louvre Abu Dhabi - Ateliers Jean Nouvel
Location Saadiyat Cultural District, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Year 2017

Status Completed

The plan consists of series of irregularly placed boxes that acts as gallery spaces and other

functional programs of the museum. These boxes are arranged in a less orderly fashion as

compared to a 21st century clean contemporary museum layout. These boxes are then gath-

ered by a circular form that forms a dramatic skylight above the boxes. The gallery boxes are

organized in clusters both in plan and section in-order to create a sense of place from vernacu-

lar architecture of the region. It is both a calm and complex place with varying levels of sensory

modalities.

The injection of the urban grid into the museum allows each of the individual rooms to func-

tion as their own autonomous world with pure circulation space for repose all underneath the

curatorial umbrella of the larger exhibitionary complex.17

17 Ibid

25
Figure 15: Blur Building Elevation View; by DS+R Architects

Figure 16: The Braincoat, Blur Building Connectivity Metaphor by DS+R Architects; published in Anniversary Magazine

26
.07
Precedents
Blur Building - Diller Scofidio + Renfro
Location Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland

Year 2002

Status Completed

The building questions the traditional parameters of architecture through a nearly immateri-

al presence, created by eliminating the walls and roof of the architectural program. The first

facade that you can’t touch, but still feel. DS+R envisioned the pavilion with no program, no

functional requirements, no size definition, no site mandates, no occupancy targets or public

flow rates, and decide to give the site back to itself.

The repression of vision and heightened non-visual senses critiques the visual bias in architec-

ture. Visual and acoustical references are erased along the journey towards the cloud, leaving

mist in the air, and white noise of the pulsating water nozzles.

27
Figure 17: Pond with Duckweed. View of The Mediated Motion Exhibition; by Olafur Eliasson

Figure 18: Floor of gently sloped compressed soil; Figure 19: Suspension bridge spanning foggy room;
by Olafur Eliasson by Olafur Eliasson

28
.07
Precedents
The Mediated Motion - Olafur Eliasson
Location Kunsthaus Bregenz, Bregenz, Austria

Year 2001

Status Completed

The mediated motion is a large-scale installation spanning all four floors of Peter Zumthor’s

Kunsthaus Bregenz in Austria, 2001, which was conceived in collaboration with the landscape

architect Günther Vogt. The artist takes the visitors through its sequence of interior land-

scapes; on the ground floor was a collection of logs sprouting shiitake mushrooms. Continu-

ing to level one, visitors encountered a pond with duckweed floating on its surface, which they

could cross via a series of pontoons. On level two, a floor of gently sloping compressed soil

could be traversed, and on level three, a suspension bridge spanned a foggy room and termi-

nated abruptly at a blank wall, forcing visitors to return along their original route. A staircase

of roughly hewn wood was built on top of the existing concrete stairs, creating an unbroken

transition from one landscape situation to the next.18 This project emphasizes on the creation

of a particular experience through layering of various sensory modalities.

18  Eliasson, Olafur; The Mediated Motion - 2001; http://olafureliasson.net/archive/publication/MDA104826/the-mediat-

ed-motion-olafur-eliasson-in-cooperation-with-gunther-vogt

29
Figure 20: The Proposed Site; from Google Earth

Figure 21: Figure ground; by author Figure 22: Railway lines around site; by author

30
.08
The Site
Chicago, a vibrant metropolis, would be a great platform to design a museum of senses, and

create awareness within the public about the relevance of multi-sensory architectural spaces

in our built-environment through conducive sensory gallery spaces and the Winter Garden,

which acts as a community hub and an urban sanctuary, the unity of senses. The site is located

on the North Lake Shore Drive, facing the lake front, where it meets E. Pearson Street and E

Chicago Avenue. The proposed site is right behind The Museum of Contemporary Art, a con-

temporary art museum established in 1967 near Water Tower Place.

The streets around the site are busy throughout the day as people keep moving to and fro from

important landmarks around, i.e. The Museum of Contemporary Art, The Hancock Tower, and

the presence of Universities, medical and learning centers around the site. Keeping in mind the

commercial, institutional and residential land use around the proposed site, the goal of this

project would be to anchor the pivotal intersection of all activities in the neighborhood and

propose the Winter Garden that would act as the nodal point of activities within and around

the museum.

31
Figure 23: Existing parks around site; by author Figure 24: Public transport accessibility around site;
by author

Figure 25: 5min walk-ability radius from site; Figure 26: Site analysis maps combined;
by author by author

32
The Museum of Contemporary Art attracts a lot of people from in and around the area. The

idea is to treat the site as an extension of the Museum of Contemporary Art, by extending the

promenade on the East side of the MCA and integrate the same with the proposed Museum.

After visiting the MCA, the visitors may walk on its landscaped promenade, that guides them

to the Museum of Senses. The visitors will have to walk on a bridge over the water feature to

access the entrance lobby of the Museum of Senses.

The bridge and the water-body outside the entrance is an attempt to create a distinction be-

tween the two museums. Although both the buildings are museums, the intended experiences

are poles apart from each other, and the water-body acts as a transition space between them.

The site planning approach is to integrate both the museums, at least in visitors point of view,

and make sure the Museum of Senses has it’s own character that doesn’t compete or deteri-

orate the overall harmony of the place created by the MCA.

33
Figure 27: The model of a multisensory perpetual object; Publised in Synesthetic Design:
Handbook for a multisensory approach; by Michael Haverkamp

34
.09
The Program
The design of the Museum consists of gallery spaces, an auditorium, a restaurant with outdoor

seating and an amphitheater, and a winter garden that connects all the functional spaces of

the museum, thus focusing all activities into a nodal hub within the museum. It also includes

a reception lobby, coat check and cloak rooms, a gift shop, office and administrative spaces

along with washrooms, storage and other electrical and mechanical services.

The Winter Garden acts as a community hub during the peak frigid winters of Chicago, en-

couraging people to take a leisurely stroll in the meandering streets of the museum and the

landscaped garden, and provide a contemplation ground for nature’s resilience. The openable

skylights of the winter garden makes sure adequate air flow and ventilation required during

hot and humid summer days of Chicago, thus generating a design that programmatically work

for both summer and winter scenarios.

Focus will be on the gallery spaces that are designed to curate natural elements; earth, fire,

air and water; and create an immersive architectural experience utilizing various layers of

multi-sensory modalities generated by different states of matter of these natural elements.

The idea is to design and create a sense of place within the users by providing opportunities for

their all their senses to interact with the space confined by the built environment, crafting an

architectural experience in the process.

35
Figure 28: Conceptual sectional perspective; by author

36
.10
Design Approach
The museum spaces are often described as following a narrative. I’ve incorporated the ideol-

ogy of planning the Museum as City, where the proliferated corridors acts as arteries within a

city, and the varying cuboid structures that forms the gallery spaces acts as buildings within

the city. The system of corridors move around the gallery spaces and connect them with-

in themselves and other programmatic spaces, creating nodal junctions within the museum

providing opportunities to create layers of multi-sensory stimuli that users can interact with

and cherish. The corridor leads users into a indoor landscaped courtyard, the winter garden,

that embraces the idea of City as a Garden. The glass envelope that encloses the winter garden

creates an inward looking, sanctuary like architectural experience, within the interiors of the

museum building, instilling the feeling of an urban sanctuary within the dense urban neighbor-

hood.

The Museum acts as an extension of the Museum of Contemporary Arts, on the west side of

the site. People can access the museum from the West side, through an outdoor landscaped

promenade that continues from the Museum of Contemporary Arts into the new building. The

idea is to seamlessly integrate nuances of the proposed museum with the existing urban fabric

and the aura being set by the existing museum. As the user approaches the entrance, the low

height hallway that leads them to the entrance door is devoid of any sensory stimuli, forcing

users to focus on reaching the main door. This hallway also provides an opportunity for users

to create a sense of separation from the old, and clear off their minds by instilling a sense of

curiosity on every step they make forward.

37
Figure 29: Design Option1; Site access, primary and Figure 30: Design Option 1; Inward urban sanctu-
secondary; by author ary because of surrounding skyscrapers;
by author

Figure 31: Design Option 1; Views from the site; Figure 32: Design Option 1; Level 1; by author
by author

38
The main door opens into the Information Center, where users have access to cloak rooms,

coat checking and restrooms. This space still has low hung ceilings, intended to create a sense

of uneasiness or mental discomfort and curiosity that will eventually force users to spend as

little time as possible in this space and move forward. Sight lines from this space has been

designed to cut off any visual connectivity with the winter garden located towards the SE

part of the site. From the information center, the user moves forward onto the ticketing area,

where they’d get the first glimpse of the network of corridors that acts as streets. At this point,

the high glass envelope that confines the winter garden creates a sense of contrast as users

move from the low height Information Center into these street like connecting corridors. The

idea is to replicate the same experience that a user might experience while stepping onto the

streets from the porch of their houses, creating a sense of proprioception and bodily orienta-

tion. A small merchandise outlet adjacent to the ticketing area provide opportunities for users

to casually browse through the merch and shop if interested. The users now have the option to

move forward and explore the multifaceted urban streets, or start checking out the translucent

cuboid boxes, forming gallery spaces.

39
Figure 33: Design Option 1; Level 2; by author Figure 34: Design Option 1; Level 3; by author

Figure 35: Design Option 1; Level 4; by author Figure 36: Design Option 1; Green roof acting as Public
Plaza; by author

40
The gallery spaces are designed to curate and exhibit the four natural elements, i.e. Earth,

Fire, Water and Air. Protection from these natural elements has been the core idea of archi-

tecture since its beginning centuries ago, and it still remains as the fundamental concern for

architects. With time, architects learned to create a dialog between nature and built-environ-

ment and create interactive spaces that are rich in sensory modalities, which is essential for

an enriched multi-sensory experience of the space for the inhabitants. The natural elements

triggers different sensations in human body by interacting with its different senses, creating

sensory experiences. The galleries are designed to create a sensory experience by harnessing

material qualities and other physical properties of the elements and providing avenues for

users senses to interact and immerse in these layered sensory channels through vision, touch,

sound and smell. These galleries appear as small translucent blocks resembling beacons in a

garden that attracts bees and butterflies. The blurred translucent shell of the gallery space

creates a sense of curiosity within the inhabitants, driving them closer and persuading them

to get in and check out the exhibits.

41
Figure 37: Experience Map describing the case study of the Pulse concept; by Deepdesign

42
Figure 38: Design Option 1; Parti Diagram; by author Figure 39: Design Option 1; Parti Diagram; by author

43
Figure 40: Tyndall effect in woods during sunrise; Photo by Romeo Scheidegger

Figure 41: The Earth Gallery conceptual view; by author

44
Earth is stable and reliable, yet constantly working and moving. It houses wide variety of rocks,

minerals, and metals, helping soil to grow vegetation and support life. In Earth Gallery, the floor

is filled with dry red soil rich in iron content. A random array of square wooden posts of differ-

ent heights are planted throughout the available floor place, that resembles a forest. As the

users move around the gallery; walking on the loose soil experiencing different earthy smells

emanated by those heavily textured wood posts made from different types of wood; the users

will stumble upon a pavilion made of rammed earth that sits amidst the array of wood. Users

are free to touch and experience all these different textures. The rammed earth pavilion is de-

void of a roof, and opens to a skylight, that orchestrates dramatic effects on the soil through

light and shadow, creating a Tyndall effect when light peeks through the rammed earth pavil-

ion and the array of woods. In design intent is to make users interact with earth using their

visual and non-visual senses, and create an immersive experience that resembles a morning

stroll in the woods.

45
Figure 42: Interaction with natural water; Photograph by Steven Webber

Figure 43: The Water Gallery conceptual view; by author

46
Water is associated with flow and tranquility, and it is known to dissolve more substances than

any other liquid. It acts as a circulatory system on earth’s surface, moving soil, rock, trees and

minerals with it, creating new channels and pathways as it flows ahead. Water expands on

freezing forming solid ice, which is one of the most important property of this element that

makes it special. Water as an element instills different types of sensation in us, depending on

its physical form. The sound of flowing water is considered therapeutic and it plays a major

role in design of waterscapes in architecture. Experiencing water is essentially an immersive

sensory experience since it involves almost all the senses; sight, touch, sound, smell and taste.

The water gallery is conceived as a large tank that allows water to cascade down the slanting

textured walls, dissipating a soothing sound as it flows into a circular void on the floor, the

abyss. The users may move along a see through ice bridge forming meandering curves within

the space that facilitates more immersive interaction with flowing water through touch. The

users are free to walk on the ice bridge, and crack the thin layer of ice as they walk atop, cre-

ating crackling sounds along with the soothing sound of flowing water. The skylight on top

features glass blocks with water flowing through them, designed to create a dramatic play of

wavering light and shadow within the space. This skylight restricts the view of sky above from

inside, and yet filters all the light that enters through it. The flowing water in the glass blocks

filters the light entering the skylight and imparts a sense of movement.

47
Figure 44: Sandalwood on fire creating aroma, crackling sounds, and smoke; Photograph by Nikki To

Figure 45: The Fire Gallery Conceptual View; by author

48
Fire creates light, heat, sound and smoke through combustion, but can never exist on its own.

Fire is considered as the purest of the elements since all elements except fire contaminate

themselves on the process of purifying any substance. For example, water is know for its

cleaning properties, although it contaminates itself in the process of cleaning and purifying

something else. Fire on the other hand never gets contaminated and reduces everything to

ashes. The Fire Gallery has been designed to radiate a sense of warmth and coziness, the same

exact feeling anyone would experience by a fireplace in a cave on a cold winter night. Woods

burn differently producing different scents, crackling noises and smokes with different den-

sities. The fire gallery has a decor that resembles the warmth of a cave. Several circular fire-

places are arranged randomly throughout the space, and each of these fireplaces fire different

types of wood, creating a whole new world of sensory information through different types of

smells produced by the burning resins and fluids in the firewood, along with different crackling

noises and smokes. The dancing flames emanating from these fire places are the only source

of light in this gallery. As users move around the space treading on fine sand like ashes, they

are constantly being reminded of the devastating effects of fire, focusing on how it changed

the whole course of a city after the Chicago Fire of 1871.

49
Figure 46: Humans navigating in a space restricting sight, a foggy experience; by Tokkoro

Figure 47: The Air Gallery Conceptual View; by author

50
Air is constantly in motion, even when you can’t see it. Although air is invisible, it does take up

space, it has volume, and it exerts pressure. In the Air Gallery users will move around the space

and interact with an installation that produces mist while purifying air. The installation is made

out of steel frames and fabric, and it houses air purification ionizing systems developed by

Panasonic electronics. The mist produced by these systems during the process of air purifica-

tion fills in the space blurring our vision and reduces our reliance on visual senses, creating a

sense of curiosity. From the top hangs an array of thin white colored strings of varying heights,

not essentially reaching the ground. Users may pull these strings to increase or decrease the

density of the mist around that thread. The users are free to step in the installation and fully

immerse themselves in the fog, and experience the play of light through the dense mist. The

hanging strings transcends and disappear in the fog leaving users wonder where these strings

begin or end. As users move around the space covered in fog, the hanging strings disappear

into nothingness, instilling a sense of weightlessness by accentuating air’s lack of definition,

clarity and opacity, creating a definable ambiguity.

51
Figure 48: The Winter Garden, combining all sensory experiences into a holistic one, the
unity of senses; Interiors of the Small Hermitage, The Winter Garden; by Eduard Hau; 1865

52
The gallery spaces interact with a central winter garden that acts as the focus of the whole

museum design. The winter garden is essentially an indoor landscaped space that has been

designed to foster multi-layered interactions between humans and the built environment. The

gallery spaces breaks down our perception of natural elements into multi-sensory experiences

involving one or more senses, whereas the winter garden reinforces the idea of unity of senses

by generating opportunities for visitors to interact with nature outside of the gallery spaces,

but yet within the envelopes of the museum. The winter garden also provides opportunities

for users to enjoy a leisurely stroll in its pathways surrounded by green trees, even during the

peak Chicago winters. The openable skylights on roof makes sure there is enough air flow and

ventilation during hot and humid summers. This also serves as a healing and contemplation

ground for those people who appreciate nature’s resilience, even after all those atrocities in-

flicted on nature by humans. The glass envelope that defines the winter garden ties all the gal-

lery spaces together and leads all the corridors onto this urban sanctuary; a feeling created by

the inward looking low rise design typology amidst skyscrapers, and the transparency created

by glass envelope defining the winter garden. The restaurant/ cafeteria provides opportunity

for users to cherish their gustatory senses while enjoying the sun in winter garden. The aroma

of food ascends from the restaurant onto the winter garden and the adjoining streets, thus

creating an enriched level of multi-sensory experience by triggering olfactory and gustatory

sensations in the visitor.

53
Figure 49: Design Option 2 , conceptual drawings; by author

54
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56
.11
Conclusion
The main objective of this research was to address the issue of visual bias in architecture, by

exploring how to achieve a more-than visual architectural experience in museums by creating

multi-sensory spaces that questions the uni-sensory architectural experience offered by tradi-

tional museum architecture. Crafting an architectural experience is not a process that can be

defined and quantified by certain techniques and skills. Envisioning an experience early in the

design process, and engagement of human perception and senses through the design process

would help architects create built-environments that connect humans with its surroundings,

thus bolstering the idea of sense of place.

The visual aids and techniques used in architecture these days are to be partially blamed for

the visual bias. The moment architects put pencil on paper, they conveniently ignore the in-

volvement of non-visual senses in space making, and end up producing a visually appealing

object. Although sound, light, color, and texture are integral components of architecture, the

visual appeal of it gets most of the attention, throwing light on the paradigm shift in architec-

ture i.e. from a sensory experience based to a more photogenic architecture that are predomi-

nantly visual.

Architecture plays a major role in crafting a sense of place in its users. The process of design

is a multi-layered approach that involves a thorough understanding of human expectations

for that space, which is more than just catering the programmatic requirements. If architects

consider human perception and its different modalities into their early design equations, I be-

57
58
lieve we would be able to create built-environment with unique experiences, than just making

objects alienated from its surroundings that fail to connect with our sensory perceptions, thus

failing to create an impression of the sense of place in us.

We perceive the built environment around us using both visual and non-visual senses. In this

thesis, my attempt was to create a multi-sensory environment in a museum by involving many

or all of our common and uncommon senses. The proposed Museum of Senses is essentially an

inside out building that prioritizes the experience it creates over its visual qualities. Although

buildings are designed to fight the elements, the Museum of Senses embraces it and curates it

inside. The choice of curating natural elements in the museum also correlates to the different

sensations created by different states of their physical existence that humans perceive using

their senses. In this Museum, one would be able to appreciate our own existence by experienc-

ing different sensations caused by the combination of subtle architectural gestures, sensory

modalities, and natural elements. The Winter Garden ties all the pieces together, and creates a

holistic sensory experience for its users, thus creating multi-layered and complex interactions

between visual, auditory, olfactory, spatial, and other aspects of the visitor’s experience, hence

reinforcing the idea of multi-sensory architecture that is more-than-visual.

59
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.12
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