When a new building or environment creates a delightful experience, people notice.

Achieving this complex creative and technical goal… is no accident.

At Arup, we call this sensory design.

We have over 2,000 ‘sensory designers’ – teams working across acoustics, lighting, experience design, digital, materials, audio-visual and many other disciplines.

Our experts are constantly refining how places should function and feel. Here are their five key lessons, learned on projects worldwide:

1: Sensory design is important for everyone, everywhere

Every part of our journey – from home, through transit, into outdoor precincts and interior spaces – shapes how we experience the world. Sensory design considers this journey as a whole, recognising that places where we live and work are interconnected across public and private realms.

Through the careful integration of materials, light, air, nature and digital elements, we help create environments that feel safe, welcoming and intuitive. Our approach to design helps clients make design decisions through modelling, experience walks, demonstrations and interactive experiences that bring different solutions to life.

2: Use immersive experiences to provide design insights

Every built environment creates an experience – shaping how people feel about it. Major infrastructure projects – from transport to energy and water – also create opportunities to shape communities and spaces for generations to come.

We model designs in detail, enabling a detailed exploration of how a new environment or piece of infrastructure will feel, building confidence and support in the design.

3: An ideal interior works for all the senses

Sensory inputs combine to produce our feelings about an environment – from a transport journey to navigating a gallery or office space. We all respond physically and emotionally to our environments in complex ways. That’s why our team brings together technical insights into how the acoustics, lighting, materials and other factors combine to shape the final user experience. We prioritise designs that offer great performance and a commitment to users’ or communities’ wellbeing.

At Arup, we believe good design brings together the built environment with the natural environment and an understanding of the lives of people that occupy these spaces. When you get it right, it should work for everyone.

Dimple Rana

Arup

4: Design for comfort in a changing climate

Buildings have long life spans and must be designed or retrofitted for rapidly changing climates. Our approach aligns natural elements and built environment insights to create environments that are comfortable and enjoyable throughout their operational life. We use detailed climate modelling, and thermal analysis tools to shape design solutions that will work effectively in a changing climate.

5: Inclusive design… is just better design

Sensory design learns from real people in order to achieve workable designs, ones that truly reflect people’s diverse preferences and needs. At its core, it’s about ensuring empathy throughout the design process. We believe that this open-minded and collaborative exploration of problems leads to more effective, accessible and valuable design solutions – places everyone could love to live or work in.

At Arup, sensory design isn’t simply a set of technical questions – we believe that it should be a human collaboration, one that brings clients and communities into the design process. That’s how we develop inspiring and inclusive environments that promote wellbeing for all.

Raj Patel

Arup