Review | The Eyes of the Skin, Architecture and the Senses – Juhani Pallasmaa

Let's explore this book with an intriguing question: Why are some architectural designs so dazzling on the drawing board or computer monitor, but disappointing when we see them in person?

In this work, we are led by Pallasmaa to a deep understanding of how architecture transcends the visual and intertwines with our body and our senses. It is a concise and enlightening journey that reveals a multisensory architecture capable of promoting integration and belonging.

When we inhabit the built environment, our body becomes an essential part of it. Therefore, it is crucial that projects understand human nature. This perception will make us architecture, design and urban planning professionals more critical in relation to the development of our projects in this 21st century.

“Every moving experience with architecture is multisensory; the characteristics of space, matter and scale are measured equally by our eyes, ears, nose, skin, tongue, skeleton and muscles. Architecture reinforces the existential experience, our feeling of belonging to the world, and this is essentially an experience of reinforcing personal identity. Instead of mere vision, or the five classical senses, architecture involves several spheres of sensory experience that interact and merge with each other.” Pallasmaa, Juhani