Neuroscience and Architecture: Designing with the User in Mind – Module 6: Designing for the Senses: Multisensory Balance & Embodied Perception

Q: What does this research mean for the field?

Sensory information, bodily movement, and physiological states collectively contribute to the human experience of the built environment, necessitating a multisensory approach to architectural design beyond just visual elements. Novelty: ClaimNovelty.SYNTHESIS. Consensus alignment: ConsensusAlignment.NEUTRAL.

Andréa de Paiva

doi:10.5281/zenodo.22128791

August 27, 2026Open Access

Neuroscience and Architecture: Designing with the User in Mind – Module 6: Designing for the Senses: Multisensory Balance & Embodied Perception

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Key Points

To establish a neuroscientific foundation for architectural design that moves beyond vision by examining how multisensory inputs, bodily movement, and internal physiological states shape human experience.
Reviewed theoretical and neuroscientific frameworks addressing traditional external senses, including vision, audition, olfaction, and gustation.
Integrated somatic and physiological modalities into spatial perception models, focusing on vestibular processing, proprioception, and interoception.
Defined environmental perception as an active, embodied process mediated by concurrent multisensory signals and bodily movement.
Demonstrated that non-visual sensory modalities and internal physiological states fundamentally govern how occupants experience and interact with built spaces.

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Implication

Curricular overview reveals sensory and physiological interactions in the built environment, highlighting the role of multisensory balance in architectural design.

Abstract

This handout supports Module 6 of the course Neuroscience & Architecture: Designing with the User in Mind. It introduces the sensory systems through which the body encounters the built environment, examining vision, hearing, touch, smell, taste, vestibular perception, proprioception and interoception. Moving beyond a predominantly visual understanding of architecture, the module explores how sensory information, bodily movement and physiological states contribute to environmental experience and establishes a foundation for the study of multisensory perception and design.

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Andréa de Paiva (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a92996e8e5d7d1fc0c1169d https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22128791

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Neuroscience and Architecture: Designing with the User in Mind – Module 6: Designing for the Senses: Multisensory Balance & Embodied Perception

Key Points

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Neuroscience and Architecture: Designing with the User in Mind – Module 6: Designing for the Senses: Multisensory Balance & Embodied Perception

Key Points

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