Sensorium, Clerkenwell Design Week

What can cities of the future learn from the 18th century pleasure gardens of the past?

We interpreted Clerkenwell’s historic pleasure gardens in an immersive installation for Clerkenwell Design Week – a riot of smells, textures, tastes and optic devices.

The pleasure garden, ​‘Sensorium’, invited visitors to question how senses influence experience and how we view the world around us, whether through everyday technology or through our physical presence in a space. 

Visitors walked through a lush landscape of plants and flowers and discovered cut-out viewing points, scented smoke and a virtual reality experience of hands running through water. Freshly-made fairy floss contributed to the ​‘taste’ part of the multi-sensory concept.

The creative collaboration of architects, urban designers, interior designers and Scandinavian seating designer HÅG looked beyond the built environment to create spaces – public and private – that entice and delight. It offered a new perspective on how people shape design and how design responds to people.