Memory and the Forgotten Sense

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A memory is a collection of moments created at a particular time evoked in a distinct place. A memory constitutes of its subject, a distinguishing event, and mostly its situated area.

“We may be equally moved by something evoked by our memory or imagination as by an actual experience.” - The Thinking Hand.

There is no experience without region; whilst there is no space without the inhabitant. It is a symbiotic process of space shaping us as we shape space.

The light, the touch of materiality, the way the sound echoes or halts, the taste of air that surrounds it are all factors contributing to atmosphere, but our association with smell is not to the architecture as it is to the components integrated within.

The olfactory sense is most affiliated with memory whilst architecture itself is primarily considered a visual experience.

The sense of smell is one that triggers the limbic system, bringing about conditioned responses yet is usually discarded from the architectural experience. Scent itself happens both before and behind all other senses.

“At the centre of architecture, there seems to be an empty space. You can’t plan emptiness, but you can draw its boundaries, and so empty comes to life.” - Peter Zumthor.

It is cognitively bonded with memory, therefore by designing stimulating qualities, inhabitants can visualise the space occupied with their own associations. Each individual engineers a space into that of their perception. kitchen was typical of a traditional kitchen. There was nothing special about it. But perhaps it was the fact that it was so very much, so very naturally, a kitchen that has imprinted its memory indelibly on my mind. The atmosphere of the room is insolubly linked with my idea of a kitchen.”

The function of a building, and the relation of usage affects its scent. The materials used, as well as the environment it is within.

Scent can play a more emotional, expressive, and even functional role in our everyday lives. This is especially noticed within vernacular buildings whose scents reflect that of the natural, local materials.

Zumthor emphasises sensory aspects of architectural experience. He stands behind the idea that as an architect, one must map out and measure a space through sensual qualities. It is the act of bringing forth impalpable messages making them physical. Architecture serves as an expression of inner impressions in the form of utilitarian scopes.

Zumthors Vals spa does so by appealing to all senses. This has been a growing interest in the world of architecture; Construction is orchestrated so to enhance the inhabitants sense of embodiment.

Urban planning is focused on physical guidance and movement aiding in journey and transport; singularly, structures are to be designed to benefit the individual creating a space of comfort and ease.

Zumthor says:

“Looking back it seems as if this was the only room in the house in which the ceiling did not disappear into twilight; … a smell of oil paint issued from the kitchen cupboard. Everything about this

A focus on reviving memory and the vibrant atmosphere pervaded by the simple presence of things should be embedded into the design process.