Ambience Design

Ambience design communicates with all senses. Holistic experiences which take into account hearing, sight, taste, scent and touch are created using transdisciplinary design. Ambience design means a shift from mere visual impressions to lived experiences.

Smart materials and spaces can be successfully exploited in ambience design. The goal is to increase the interaction between environments and their users.

The central feature of ambience design is to create a changing identity. Tapio Mäkelä has stated:

“We need to design for time and place, or rather, for situations, durations, and different localities. Because the rhythm of life is accelerating, design has to better take into account fast user interactions while people are mobile and the varied multisensory and social conditions we inhabit. Furthermore, slowing down the pace of life and creating more static spaces can counterbalance the increasingly fragmented and dispersed everyday urban work and leisure. In my opinion, realizing this is central in order to design for increased welfare”

(Mäkelä 2006