Sensory Architecture : To what extent is Swedish architecture of today planned and designed in consideration to the human senses?

This thesis investigates to what extent Swedish architecture of today is planned and designed in consideration to the human senses. A few decades ago the human senses had the light directed to itself in the world of architecture. But what about in the 2020’s, is the light still on or has sensory architecture fallen into oblivion? The objective of the thesis has been to map out whether the visual sense is currently dominating, together with closely related aspects such as whether architectural specialization or the architect’s sex affects how the senses are seen upon, how present the human senses are in today’s Swedish academic architectural programs and what effect this could have on the architecture of tomorrow. The research method encompasses two structured, quantitative surveys; one aimed at professional architects and one aimed at architectural students/teachers. 114 professional architects responded and 48 students. The surveys concluded that the visual sense is in fact considered the most important by the respondents and therefore hold a leading position. The human senses are overall considered very important for the user experience, despite this they are not often discussed within the professional field, displaying a lack of debate. Further analyzes establish that professional architects sometimes meet resistance and a lack of understanding among other occupations they collaborate with. The abstract nature of the human senses and the difficulties measuring them mean they can easily be downgraded to “optional aesthetics” by other occupational groups. Teachers at the academic architectural programs also has an important standing in weighing up, through their teaching, for the limited presence of aspects of the human senses in the current required reading at the universities.