element 05 | scent
A particular smell makes us unknowingly re-enter a space completely forgotten by the retinal memory; nostrils awaken a forgotten image. The nose makes the eyes remember (Pallasmaa 2012). Therefore, the incorporation of scent in space elevates users’ perception to their surroundings. For example, the aromas of restaurants’ food would attract passers-by from outside, thus bringing in more customers.
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An experiment was carried out by Guéguen, N. and Petr, C. (2005) to study how scent affect consumers’ behaviour in restaurants. On three separate Saturdays, a pizzeria in Brittany, France was diffused with lemon, lavender aromas and lastly with no aroma control respectively. Results showed that lavender aroma increased the customers’ average time spent, from 91.3 minutes to 105.7 minutes, which is approximately 15%. Guéguen suggested that this positive effect was cause by lavender’s relaxing effect.
At ‘Sensing Space’ exhibition in London, Kengo Kuma highlighted the importance of scent in architecture through two bamboo structures impregnated with the liquid scent of Japanese Tatami (Gregory, R. 2014). The fresh, earthy and tranquil smell of Tatami provides a soothing effect to the exhibition space.
