Spatial Perception

By Rhonda C Daugherty


How one interprets space is a phenomenological experience that goes beyond the limitations of psychological confinement. Smell and taste are consequentially linked to a sense of place by understanding how the brain works and remembers past. To smell and to taste are past, spatial perceptions linking to present; rather visuals, touch, and sounds are descriptive characteristics that exist in the present. Spatial explorations while utilizing one’s senses are indeed manipulated by human behavior which is controlled by social, physiological and his or her physical inadequacy.


Site, location, and intent are the primary concern when designing a project that examines phenomenological perception. Everything plays a key role; for example, in “Invisible Architecture”, the author discusses phenomenological in terms of a physical association to space while; in “Spaces Speak, Are You Listening?” the author challenges the thought of physical association and states that space is subjective. In conclusion, how one perceives something and what it perceived would be impossible without the five senses.