This project invited a group of interior design students at ESDi School of Design (University Jamon Lull, Barcelona) to carry out a sensory study of the ROCA gallery in Barcelona, Spain. The activity was designed to help students reconnect with sensing through experiential learning. Following on site investigations, students were invited to translate their experience into three-dimensional artefacts.

Read ESDi article about this event

SUMMARY OF ACTIVITY BRIEFING

Sensory flow and design explorations

In this workshop introduces a method to document embodied multisensory experiences in space. It is followed by an experimental design activity.

Documentation

You will be assigned a sensory system documentation template to document a pre-selected site outside the ESDI building. Bring your sketchbook and a range of pen.

Once on site, use the template provided to document your embodied experience of the sensory system you have been assigned and map/sketch your experiences in your sketchbook.

Interpretation

Team with three other people so that each of you represents a sensory system (visual, auditory, smell/taste, haptic). As a team, make a collective mind map of their sensory documentation, highlighting significant elements, scale, connections, hierarchies, qualities/emotions.

Translation

Working individually again, use the information on the mind map as the basis for the design of a multisensory space/structure. Experiment by making 3 different sketch models to explore how you can give 3D form and spatial expression to your group sensory documentation. The objective is to explore and experiment not to provide a definitive solution.

Presentations and discussion

In your group, present your models to each other. Each group selects 1 model to present to the class and discuss insights.