The eyes of the skin: touching architecture

We arrive at today’s architecture - and its representation, conveyed through digital images, also with the ever-growing support of AI - under the dominance and extreme valorization of sight. The privilege granted to the most immediate of our five senses is also closely tied to the very tight relationship that, in recent years, architecture and interior design have developed with disciplines and arts outside the sector, such as fashion and cuisine. Everything, in short, can be reduced to representation, into a pure and perfect image of what is designed, built, and presented to the public.

As often happens cyclically, however, this trend is also being shaken up. If, regarding to social media for example, we are witnessing a growing awareness of the importance of having experiences without the need for immediate public sharing, in architecture the design of space and building envelope is giving way to a rediscovery of the other senses, with touch taking the lead.

In 2005, the Finnish architect Juhani Pallasmaa, in The Eyes of the Skin, theorized architecture as a multisensory experience rather than a visual art. From this perspective, touch plays the primary role as the mediator between the body - understood as the essential tool for experiencing - and the built environment. Today, more than twenty years later, at international architecture events, we are finally witnessing a clear move beyond the dominant polished, glossy minimalism.

Texture, the study of material beyond the two dimensions that contribute to image-making, and immediate experience are taking center stage in design proposals, starting even from the field of slab products, which are by definition two-dimensional. The concept of cladding is entering a new, rich and vibrant chapter, suggesting engaging and challenging design scenarios and crossing its traditional areas of application and appreciation. Fingertips, as they brush across surfaces, discover the complex, all-encompassing value of matter and delight in it.

The latest editions of Cersaie in Bologna and Milan Design Week showcased materials that are real, substantial, and widely tangible to the touch, as well as to the eye. Alongside the rediscovery of certain values and beauties of the past - aided by a narrative of a certain perfect imperfection - finishes are favored that enhance grain, porosity, and irregularity.

The truth of material translates into specific operations, namely targeted research by companies into treatments capable of enhancing and completing the perception of technological solutions for architecture: brushing, sandblasting, imprinting textures with distinct narrative qualities. Touch, in the exploration of these new materials, does not lie: it returns to the mind and the heart the density and warmth that sight can only hypothesize. In an era of digital simulation and perfectly communicated imagery, imperfection becomes a certificate of authenticity and real existence.

There is also another factor resulting from this approach. From a technical perspective, the design of textures is closely linked to the management of architectural design in terms of its interaction with light. A surface whose properties emphasize perceptual depth interacts with light, turning the wall into a dynamic device that changes throughout the day - when exposed to natural light - or according to the lighting design.

Architects such as Peter Zumthor and Kengo Kuma have taught us that it is precisely depth that sets the rhythm of space. Today, this translates into façade systems and interior claddings that use three-dimensionality to generate chromatic and aesthetic vibrations, transforming the building into a living organism.

All images: © Nora Santonastaso