Sensory Design
Shaping architecture around how places are experienced, from first impression to everyday use.
WHAT CLIENTS CAN EXPECT
Sensory design does not add a themed layer to a project. It changes the questions asked early enough to matter: who will use the place, what they need to notice, how the journey unfolds, which conditions should feel consistent or change, and how the concept can remain credible when tested against the existing asset.
1 | Start with use and behaviour
Define audiences, programme, patterns of movement and the key decisions a place must support.
2 | Compose coherent conditions
Coordinate light, sound, material, air, temperature and nature around one spatial idea rather than a collection of effects.
3 | Design the journey
Consider approach, arrival, thresholds, choices, pauses, views and changes between day, evening, event and everyday use.
4 | Test, communicate and refine
Use drawings, diagrams, material studies, models and specialist input at a level proportionate to the stage and risk.
COGNITIVE MODEL
The model gives PSA a disciplined way to connect an architectural move with the way it may be encountered and understood. It is not a linear promise that one stimulus will produce one emotion. Each step is shaped by the person, the purpose of the visit and the wider social, cultural and environmental context.
Step 1
We design
EXTERNAL STIMULI
based on Human Behaviour & Patterns rooted in the subconscious
Step 2
Affecting
SENSES
such as Vision, Hearing, Touch, Smell, Taste & balance, perception, interpretation
Step 3
Leading to
COGNITIVE PROCESS
based on attention, Memory, language, thinking & reasoning
Step 4
Informing
INTERPRETATION
based on meaning making shaped by Emotions & Culture
Step 5
Creating final
EXPERIENCE
based on the Knowledge & Understanding
The familiar five senses offer an accessible way into the subject. In practice, architecture is also registered through movement, balance, temperature, effort and the internal state of the body. The aim is not to stimulate every sense everywhere. It is to decide which conditions matter, where they matter and how they work together.
VISION
Light
Use intensity, contrast, shadow, rhythm and daylight to support orientation, reveal sequence and give a place a changing character.
Reflection
Use reflected light and views to extend perception, register movement or respond to difficult conditions — without creating glare or visual confusion.
HEARING
Water
Where programme and maintenance allow, the sound of water can mark presence, movement or a threshold and contribute to a wider soundscape.
Acoustic focus
Form, enclosure and material can collect, direct, absorb or separate sound. Performance claims require acoustic analysis and specialist input.
TOUCH
Texture
Grain, temperature, resistance and surface change can communicate thresholds, craft, durability and identity at the scale of the hand and body.
Interaction
Seating, handrails, doors, edges and responsive elements can make use physical and legible rather than purely visual.
SMELL & TASTE
Nature
Planting, timber, soil, air and seasonal change can contribute to the identity of a place. Species, allergies, upkeep and local ecology must guide selection.
Vapour
Mist, steam and moisture can make air, temperature and water perceptible in appropriate cultural, landscape or hospitality settings. Safety, humidity, energy and maintenance are design constraints.
BEYOND THE VISUAL
A place is not encountered as a single image. We approach, enter and move through it. Light and shadow, sound and silence, texture and temperature, distance and movement, smell, memory and expectation overlap. Together, these conditions help people understand where they are, what a place is for and how it might be used.
Sensory design asks how those conditions can support the intended programme and identity. At PSA, it is applied from early concept onward — alongside planning, commercial and technical realities — so that atmosphere becomes part of the project’s logic rather than a decorative layer added at the end.