Sensory space: temporary occupation

The paper sets out to explore the role of the non-visual and somatic senses in the design process. It examines the importance of the interaction between body and built form in our perception and understanding of architectural space. It sets out to investigate spatial progression through a series of environments exploring textures, sounds and properties of light to form a textural narrative. Particular sites are mapped through drawing that are understood through our somatic senses, looking at marks and movements of inhabitation, understanding space through pace, texture, and sounds to look at the way bodies interconnect with building. The paper draws on interdisciplinary methodologies from scenography, dance and drawing. It investigates new ways to map the experience of space forming a series of choreographed events and activities. Exploring interior and exterior space through inter-disciplinary practice allows individuals to move between and across disciplines and in so doing question the ways in which they work. This paper shows how different methodological approaches to space can inform new ways of thinking about the occupation of site. The paper builds on previous research and will describe an on-going project at the University of Portsmouth, now in its third year, where students work together with dancers, artists and scenographers to investigate new methods for exploring space.