Juhani Pallasmaa challenges visual supremacy in architecture, revealing that true spatial experience emerges through multisensory engagement. He advocates for a shift from “ocularcentrism” to an architecture that honours touch, hearing, smell, temperature, and movement. The skin, he argues, is the organ of spatial perception—through it, architecture is felt, remembered, and inhabited with bodily presence. Pallasmaa articulates how sensory atmospheres—material warmth, acoustic resonance, thermal gradients, tactile qualities—shape our emotional experience of place. Urban walking, in this sense, becomes a dialogue between body and city: the texture of pavements, the hum of ambient life, layers of scent, modulation of light turning streets into sensory narratives. These aspects engage the walker’s body and memory, grounding them in a lived place. Through philosophical and psychological reflection, the book critiques the tendency of architecture to render spaces as visually spectacular but emotionally sterile. It calls for layered design gestures: textured materials, nuanced light, and acoustic richness. Moreover, Pallasmaa makes the case that sensory architecture nurtures empathy, memory, and human connection. In urban terms, this calls for designing streets, plazas, and interior spaces with multisensory care—so that walking becomes a rich, embodied experience. In essence, the work reframes architecture as a bodily craft deeply linked to culture and existence. For urban designers and planners, it emphasises the human sensorium—not just sight—as essential to crafting liveable, walkable cities that resonate emotionally.
Pallasmaa, J. (2005) The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and the Senses. Chichester: Wiley.
