Sight. Sound. Touch. Smell. Taste. Through better inclusion of all our five senses in design, can patients recover more quickly? Will office workers become more productive and creative? Will hurried shoppers feel more relaxed and as a result consume more? Will children in school learn better – both in terms of knowledge and also social skills? Here, we introduce five key sectors (Care, Offices, Retail, Schools & Hospitality) that will be explored further through the five senses in our exhibition and with our international experts during Material Xperience 2015.

The ‘Healing Environment’: The concept of a ‘healing environment’ refers an environment that actively contributes to the recovery of a patient.

The design of the care environment until recently has been understandably focused on issues such as risk of infection. There is now however considerable evidence-based science demonstrating that reducing patient stress is directly linked to improving patient recovery rates. One particularly effective strategy for doing this is bringing patients into direct contact with natural elements and materials as much as possible. Water features, green walls and interior gardens for example are now being cleverly incorporated into these once purely sterile environments.  Furthermore, patient stress is found to reduce when patients are able to control lighting, sound (i.e. television and music choice) and regulate their own warmth and temperature.

Retail: Engaging the senses is essential in retail environments. Good lighting can unconsciously evoke positive customer experiences. Customers also respond well to daylight, although not too much – particularly in the vicinity of the fitting room where softer lighting is more flattering.

Colour meanwhile can reinforce messages in relatively simple and affordable ways. A red and yellow colour combination unconsciously increases movement and speed, which is why it is used extensively in fast food restaurants as part of encouraging customer flow. By contrast, blue is associated with loyalty and trust and green represents nature, vitality and health. Sound also influences the mind of the shopper. In furniture stores where the buying process is longer, music at a high tempo and volume is less desirable than quieter, lower tempo music that slows down the pace and unconsciously encourages customers to browse longer in a store.

The Office: Most of us spend a large part of our lives in office environments where the five senses can play a critical role with respect to productivity. The colour of natural light varies throughout the day, impacting the mood of the employee in relation. Morning light is bluer than midday light and thus gives employees more energy at this particular time of day. Meanwhile, fragrances such as lemon can increase alertness while the smell of coffee or apple pie can make a difficult meeting seem easier and more pleasant.

Schools: Learning and acquiring knowledge is done with the whole body. The more senses stimulated during the learning process, the more effectively knowledge is retained as students are better able to make connections and see things in a broader context. A particular fragrance present when studying can later help the recollection of knowledge when the same fragrance smelled in an examination situation.

In kindergarden, engagement of the five senses is employed frequently as an aid to learning about the world around us. But from primary school onward, the learning process is unfortunately dominated by primarily audiovisual resources, including books and the internet.

Hospitality: This sector is a feast for the senses and is all about atmosphere, relaxation, enjoyment and strengthening social contacts in a neutral environment. Décor is here is an extension of the personality of the target user and sensory experience essential. Music, light, colours, smells, food and the presence of many other people make the experience complete.

We hope this theme of The Five Senses during this year’s Material Xperience 2015 exhibition will encourage you to explore materials from a new angle with all senses engaged, resulting in new and fresh perspectives on how materials – together with our sensory perceptions – can lead to a better built and designed environment.