In Conversation With Juhani Pallasmaa

The famed theorist has been a true songbird for humane connection with architecture and the importance of the sensorial experience. 

- Aditi Gaitonde Fernandes

One could say that he has written the textbook on architecture, literally. The Eyes of the Skin – Architecture and the Senses, a book he wrote back in 1996, is on the reading list in most design schools world over. After a conversation with the Finnish polymath, I was richer – his thoughts and theories on the human connection with architecture, in my opinion, are universally applicable. An architect, academician, prolific writer, former museum director and revered critic, he spends his time these days writing essays and lecturing around the world.

“I often tell my students that I am not going to teach them what architecture is, but will try to show them who they are. Because, one’s sense of self is a fundamental realisation, and everything else is related to that,” he states, for he believes that the role of the body is paramount in everything we do. “In architecture, vision is not the most important sense. Instead, we confront architecture as a full body encounter,” adds the 81 year old scholar.