Name: Sensory Design by Joy Monice Malnar and Frank Vodvarka
URL: Sensory Design
Purpose: to explain in-depth and clearly how humans interact and perceive architectural design
THIS BOOK IS MUCH NEEDED IN OUR DISCIPLINE
Sensory Design is a book to really make you, as an architect, more aware of how your designs impact people. Taking and in-depth look at how humans perceive space and built form, Sensory Design is really quite a remarkable publication.
Written by Joy Monice Malnar and Frank Vodvarka, every page is filled with insight that will help you to become a better designer. Their unique way of presenting diagrams, illustrations and photographs really help to make an otherwise complex topic easy to understand.
Many of you, my readers, email me looking for a good resource on the topic of human perception and architectural design. Very often, I find myself recommending this book. In fact, there are very few books that seriously delve into the topic of sensory perception and design in such a detailed fashion. It brings modern day practice together with historical trends and then it ties theories together with findings about the brain to really help designers understand why certain design decision might work and why some might not.
Again, Sensory Design is a great find as it is much needed in the architectural discipline.
WRITTEN FOR A DESIGNER — ABOUT THE HUMAN PERCEPTUAL PROCESS
As you’ve probably heard me say before, the topic which this book covers is very important for architects and other designers to understand. Plus, I like that the authors go an extra step further by explaining human perception from a designer’s stand-point.
I think it best to show you what I’m talking about. Here is an excerpt that I particularly like: Read more
