Lesser Senses

Walmer Yard, Autumn 2019

The second season of events at Walmer Yard looked at how the senses affect our perception of architecture.

Discussions around the senses and architecture are often dominated by just one primary sense – the visual one. Yet, neuroscientists believe there are around 33 senses, ranging from the five common ones to lesser-known senses such as those of balance and movement. 

What one sense distinguishes can manipulate what another perceives. Ultimately no experience of architecture should be taken at face value – our experience of the world is one derived from multiple senses.

In the Autumn 2019 season at Walmer Yard, I drew upon the expertise of anthropologists, historians, scientists, musicians, designers and architects to explore the sensorial experience of architecture and how it contributes to a conscious perception of space.

Domesticity

Walmer Yard, Spring 2019

The home is a fundamental aspect of all our lives. It provides security, shelter, and a place for the everyday activities of life - eating, sleeping, socialising, working, relaxing - to take place. Our homes are tightly tied to our identities, being a place we can shape our environments. They act as a bridge between the private and the social. 

But what influence is modern technology having on this? Are we developing a new concept of domestic space? And how is it changing our domestic behaviour?

The Spring 2019 Domesticity programme investigated how the way in which we live is changing through offering the chance to slow down and experience. In this season of events I critiqued the established concept of home rather than reaffirming it and looked at what home means when technology is changing its very nature.

Alternate Languages

Royal Academy of Arts at Venice Architecture Biennale, August 2018

Experiencing Architecture: Inviting Dialogue

Royal Academy of Arts at Walmer Yard, April 2018